Section 398 — Immigration Act 2009: Costs of deportation or repatriation

398 Costs of deportation or repatriation (1) Subject to this section and to any order of a court under section 355(6) , all costs incurred by the Crown in deporting or repatriating any person from New Zealand may be paid from a Crown Bank Account. (2) Subsection (3) applies if— (a) a person has been or is to be deported or repatriated from New Zealand; and (b) that person has in New Zealand a spouse, civil union partner, de facto partner, or dependent child; and (c) the Minister is satisfied that the effect of the deportation or repatriation has been or will be to separate the person from the spouse, partner, or dependent child. (3) The Minister may provide the person or the person’s spouse or partner with such assistance as the Minister thinks fit for the purpose of reuniting the spouse, partner, or dependent child with the person in the country to which the person has been or is to be deported or repatriated, and any such assistance may include the grant of a sum out of a Crown Bank Account to meet all or part of the travelling or other costs that will be incurred in any such exercise. (4) The following costs incurred by the Crown in deporting or repatriating a person are recoverable as a debt due to the Crown: (a) the actual or estimated costs incurred in deporting the person that a deportation order specifies as requiring to be repaid: (b) the actual costs incurred in repatriating a person: (c) any sum fixed by a court on application under subsection (5). (5) The Minister or an immigration officer may, at any time before a person is deported or repatriated from New Zealand, apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to fix a sum that in the opinion of the court represents any reasonable costs incurred or likely to be incurred by the Crown in deporting or repatriating the person, and the sum is recoverable as a debt due to the Crown by the person. (6) For the purposes of this section, the costs incurred or likely to be incurred in deporting or repatriating a person include the following costs pending the person’s deportation or repatriation from New Zealand: (a) the costs of locating, detaining, and maintaining the person; and (b) travel costs for the person. (7) Any costs recovered under this section must be paid into a Crown Bank Account. (8) Nothing in this section or in section 55 , 118 , or 355 authorises the Crown to recover any particular cost more than once. Compare: 1987 No 74 s 148