Family fears for Sri Lankan woman stranded in Cook Islands as transit visas denied
A Sri Lankan asylum seeker has been stuck in the Cook Islands for years after New Zealand and Australia repeatedly rejected her transit visa requests.
Ruchira Ranasingha, 50, fled Sri Lanka hoping to settle in Aotearoa but has been left stuck in limbo after a “disastrous decision” to leave the country for a short stay in the Cook Islands. The BBC reports she arrived in the Cook Islands in November 2023 and has been unable to depart since.
Both New Zealand and Australian immigration authorities have rejected her transit visa applications multiple times. Immigration New Zealand declined to comment, citing privacy concerns, but noted concerns about her intentions.
Ranasingha told the BBC her only son is getting married this month and she wants to be there for his wedding. She said her mother is “so worried about what has happened to me that she is constantly in and out of hospital.”
She expressed fear that something could happen to her while she remains stranded. Her brother, speaking to BBC Sinhala, said she left Sri Lanka in 2018 under “immense financial pressure” after being forced to close a small T‑shirt factory and being unable to repay loans.
He added that her husband, a drug addict, died about seven years ago. The brother quoted Ranasingha as saying, if they are not willing to get her back home alive, they might at least repatriate her body.
Ranasingha has told the Cook Islands News she would accept detention if it convinced authorities she intends only to return to Sri Lanka. She described three years without seeing her family as “torture.”
She said she is “luckier than others in her position” because the hotel where she stays in Rarotonga is letting her use staff accommodation free of charge and locals are providing food and clothing.
The family’s warning that her mental state is “not good” underscores the human cost of the prolonged immigration stalemate.
