Hi Craig
Sorry to hear of your tribulations
I'm in a similar situation. I've applied to sponsor my lady for a 2 month visitors permit, so she can see NZ and make an informed decision about her future. However NZ Immigration in HongKong have declined the application once and are attempting to try to decline the second re-application. The reason given is that they have concerns that she might attempt to overstay at the end of the two month visit. This is entirely ridiculous; that with no money, no grasp of colloquial NZ speech (yes english words, but full of slang and difficult to understand) and no connection with the chinese community, she would suddenly head for the hills.
The attitude of the Immigration staff is appalling - that you are guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. It has caused offense in CHina, which is a touch larger country than NZ and an important trade partner, and I am bound to say that some of the native chinese staff seem to delight in humiliating the applicant, although they hide behind the rhetoric of 'immigration policy'.
My lady was told she had to prove she had a bank balance of RNB50,000 for 6 months as a prerequisite for visiting this county. She was also told she had to prove a family connection. Then, even is spite of submitting numbers of family photos, she was told she did not have a family connection with China.
At that stage, I decided to engage the family lawyer; my lady is a wilting lily around authority figures; he is a firece lion. There was immediatley a change in attitude and even more a retreat into civil servant obstructionism. However, NZ, as a democracy, puts its Immigration Policy manual on line, and one of the things underpinning it is that all decisions must be fully documented and in line with fairness and natural justice. So that is the tack we are taking. Interestingly, our Prime Minister is mounting a campaign to encourage visitors to the country, while his fine civil servants in NZI are doing their best to discourage them. And we pay their salaries :-(
More as it unfolds :-)
David K in Auckland