Genius sisters 'OUR FIGHT TO BE KIWIS'

Even being homeless didn't stop teens Alisa and Vicky from wanting to call NZ home

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

Arriving in New Zealand from Vietnam eight years ago on what was supposed to be a one-month holiday with their mum, sisters Alisa Pham and Vicky Ngo knew very quickly they never wanted to leave.

“I had never seen a sky so blue or so many trees in one place,” enthuses Alisa, before laughing that it was her sister Vicky’s dream of seeing penguins that made them choose New Zealand as a vacation destination.

Deciding to stay on student visas, the exceptional teens made history after both completing the full five years of high school in just 10 months – becoming the youngest people in New Zealand and Vietnam to be admitted to university.

Vicky, now 18, enrolled at AUT at just 13 and Alisa, now 15, followed in her adopted sister’s footsteps when she was only 11. But the genius siblings are now facing deportation when their student visas run out in October.

They’re desperate to become Kiwis and believe they qualify for residency under the skilled migrant category, but say they have been denied the chance to apply.

Their immigration advisor, former Minister of Immigration Tuariki Delamere, explains for legal reasons they cannot disclose why they have been declined but they are currently appealing the decision.