A 54-year-old Chinese Wang Peng left New Zealand under a removal order last Friday after her third attempt to get residency failed, sources from media of New Zealand.

She met her husband Lu Qing Zhai through the local Falun Gong movement, and married last May. Although her husband Mr. Lu was granted New Zealand permanent residency, she was not.

Associate Minister of Immigration Kate Wilkinson's private secretary Emma Hope wrote to him last Friday, saying: "The associate minister has given careful consideration to the material received and the circumstances of Ms Wang. I advise that the associate minister is not prepared to intervene in Ms Wang's case."

Immigration New Zealand said yesterday that when a person was escorted out of the country, it became a police matter.

An Immigration New Zealand spokesperson says Peng Wang had the choice of leaving under a removal order or being deported - which would have meant she could not return to New Zealand for five years.

Immigration New Zealand says Mrs Wang was not deported and paid for her own ticket to leave the country.

Wang Peng

Wang Peng (R) and her husband

(Facts.org.cn, April 21, 2010)