A family from Ireland have had to abandon a move to New Zealand as their youngest daughter was denied a visa because she had Down’s Syndrome.

Bumikka Suhinthan, 15, was told she couldn’t enter the country because her ‘health was not of an acceptable standard’ and would impose excessive costs. Her mother, Nilani Suhinthan, 52, was headhunted for a £74,000-a-year IT consultant job in Auckland, New Zealand. She, her husband Nagarajah, 54, and other daughters Tanya, 19, and Saumia, 14, all received visas but Bumikka’s rejection has put an end to the planned move.

Despite the family offering to pay for the extra support their daughter would need in school, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) ruled Bumikka would be too great a burden. The mother and her husband Nagarajah, an engineer, have spent three months appealing the rejection, but a hearing last week ruled the decision was final. Nilani, who lives in Dublin, said: “It’s complete discrimination. I’ve always told her she isn’t any different but this tears it up. She doesn’t completely understand why we’re not going to New Zealand.”