A seemingly insignificant detail on a woman’s Australian passport almost shattered her dreams of moving to New Zealand.
Lindsey Gray arrived at Sydney’s international airport in March to finally board the plane that would take her family to their new home.
The Sydney mother had been waiting months for a travel permit to move with her partner and toddler Douglas, who are already New Zealand citizens.
However chaos ensued after immigration officials spotted minor damage to a few pages of her passport and refused to let Ms Gray board the plane.
Immigration authorities declined Sydney mother Lindsey Gray (shown in the picture) from getting on a flight to New Zealand due to discovering slight damage on her Australian passport.
As a result of this, Ms. Gray had to quickly arrange for a new passport after a tense situation unfolded at the airport (depicted in the image, travelers in Sydney in April).
Ms Gray told Yahoo News Australia that her toddler had somehow located and then nibbled on the photo page of her passport.
‘When [New Zealand immigration officials] saw the nibble on my passport, they were 100 per cent unimpressed,’ she recalled.
‘They told me it could have been tampered with and therefore I would not be allowed to travel.’
She clarified that as the borders were shut to Australian citizens at that time, her passport had to be inspected by a New Zealand immigration officer at Sydney airport who promptly noticed the damage.
This was when her travel plans were turned upside-down.
Having already put their home up for sale and sent all their possessions to New Zealand, the Grays’ were essentially homeless.
The mother-of-one had no choice but to organise an emergency appointment to get a new passport.
Immigration officials explained to the Sydney mother-of-one the damage meant the passport could have been tampered with (pictured, travellers queue up in the airport in April, 2020)
Ms Gray took a train from the international airport to Central Station to pick-up the new document, which ended up costing her $533.
The family were able to fly to New Zealand the following day after a night in a hotel and another round of Covid testing.
Ms Gray has since issued a stark warning to other travellers, urging them to check their passport thoroughly for even the most minor damage.
She joked her new passport, which features a photo of her ‘puffy, distressed, cry-face’, would remain a reminder of the stressful episode.
‘Big lesson for out-of-practice travellers here – check that puppy for damage before flying,’ she said.
Ms Gray has since issued a stark warning to other travellers, urging them to check the photo page of their passport for even the most minor damage (pictured, passengers in Sydney)
