The Christchurch Response (2019) visa, which was quietly added to Immigration New Zealand's website on Tuesday, applies to anyone who was in one of the mosques at the time of the attacks, and their family members were living in Christchurch at the time. However, those not living in New Zealand at the time of the mosque shootings on March 15 are not eligible. Loading Mr Lees-Galloway said the government did not publicly announce the new visa because it was seeking to avoid the appearance of striving for “political mileage” from the decision. The muted rollout could also help dampen any backlash against the move. The new visa will not help the widow and children of Jordanian man Kamel Darwish, his brother Zuhair Darwish said. Kamel Darwish, who was killed in Masjid Al Noor, had moved to New Zealand six months earlier and was working on a farm in Ashburton.

His wife, Rana Faraj, and their children, aged 2, 6 and 8, had applied for a visa to move to New Zealand. Faraj and the children arrived in New Zealand with Darwish's mother Suad Adwan, 65, a day before Kamel Darwish was buried on March 22. Christchurch mosque attack victim Kamel Darwish, pictured with wife Rana (left), mother Suad Adwan, and six-year-old daughter Leen. Credit:Stuff.co.nz Adwan, who had a heart condition, was found dead the day after the burial. It is believed she suffered a medical event. Zuhair Darwish, a New Zealand resident who had encouraged his brother to move to New Zealand, was extremely disappointed when he learned his brother's family would not be eligible.

Faraj wanted to fulfil her husband's wish for the family to live in New Zealand, but she had only been granted a three-month visitor visa. Loading "I said it's not good enough from the government," Zuhair Darwish said. "Her husband passed away and you want to kick her out, or you want to give her a work visa for one year and then you will kick them out." He believed his sister-in-law deserved to be given residency. "It's hard enough to lose her husband, it's hard enough for me to lose my brother and mother because of the tragedy."

Another survivor, Tofazzal Alam, 26, said that he had struggled to eat and sleep after the attack on the Linwood mosque, and that uncertainty over his visa had compounded the stress. His permit to stay in the country is tied to his job as a door-to-door salesman — work that Alam, though he was not injured in the attack, said he was no longer able to do. Loading “I am a people person; I love to meet with different people,” said Alam, who has lived in New Zealand for five years and is married. “But now I feel afraid of strangers. I can only talk to people or meet people whom I know.” Alam said permanent residence would allow him more freedom to seek an office job where he could encounter mostly the same people every day. He said he did not want to move back to his home country, Bangladesh.