Saber Xie, a highly accomplished piano player from China, has been in New Zealand since 2013 and on a skilled work visa since last year.

A highly-skilled pregnant piano teacher may have to leave New Zealand because she doesn't earn enough money.

Saber Xie, 26, was seven months pregnant with her partner Jeff McDonald, 36, when the government announced changes to immigration requirements in April.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said migrants earning less than the median New Zealand income of $49,000 would not be classified as highly skilled, regardless of what industry they worked in.

JAMES PASLEY/FAIRFAX NZ Jeff McDonald, Xie's partner, says they are looking for any possible way they can to remain as a family in New Zealand.

Xie, an accomplished piano player from Xi An, China, has been in New Zealand since 2013 and on a skilled work visa since last year.

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JAMES PASLEY/FAIRFAX NZ The pair live above Craft Kitchen in Ponsonby, in an apartment with a baby grand piano. They're expecting their baby boy any day.

She taught students all levels of piano across Auckland but only earned about $500 a week which was nowhere near the government's new threshold.

She said her visa would expire in March despite the fact her baby would be a New Zealand citizen. Then she would be required to leave the country.

If the requirements hadn't changed, she would have been able to apply for NZ citizenship in the middle of next year.

JAMES PASLEY/FAIRFAX NZ Xie teaches all levels of piano to students across Auckland, but she only earns about $500 a week, which is nowhere near the government's new threshold.

"At this point either she has to take her kiwi son to China and raise it without his dad, or go back and leave him with me," McDonald said.

"We want to raise our son in a loving home. We want to look for any possible way we can to be a family."

McDonald can't sponsor Xie as his partner either because he has already sponsored two other partners, which is the limit one person can sponsor.

Immigrant specialist David Cooper from Malcolm Pacific Immigration said ministerial intervention was required.

"The only way forward for them is to go to the minister," Cooper said.

He said he had seen some cases approved, but a lot denied.

Xie started studying piano when she was six and came to New Zealand in 2013 to further her studies. In 2015, she graduated with a postgraduate diploma in piano performance from the University of Auckland.

For a year after that, she stayed in New Zealand on an open work visa.

In 2016, she started working at Able Music, the largest music teaching academy in Auckland, which sponsored her for two years ending in March next year.

Xie asked her employer for a higher hourly rate or for more hours, but it wasn't able to provide her with enough to get her over the threshold.

The pair live in an apartment above McDonald's cafe Craft Kitchen in Ponsonby with a baby grand piano.

"We're being brave, no one's going to take my child's mother away," McDonald said.

They're expecting their baby boy any day.

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