Transcript
Leading the petition is Makahokovalu Pailate from the Pacific Leadership Forum.
He hopes the government will create ways for the families stuck in the country to live keep working.
"This is the reason why we are asking for pathways for the government to do that part in identifying whose abusing the system, who is genuinely here trying to make a living and trying to raise a family. Some of these people have been here for decades."
Despite the minimal financial support for overstayers, the Forum has been providing food parcels to the families in need.
Mr Pailate says they're living in fear and shifting from house to house, which would be a disaster if a community outbreak of coronavirus were to happen.
"Most of these people come here genuinely arrive to the country on a work permit, some of them not on a work permit, on a visitor's permit and then uh just looking at it from a Pacific point of view, when people come here looking for a better life, they see that they can make it here. Majority of these people that are working are in the industries of cleaning services, working in the farms."
The government says a person's immigration status won't stop them from getting treatment and if they need medical help.
Manase Lua from the Pacific Leadership Forum says it's not a straight forward process for Pacific people to apply for permanent residency.
"So I've tried to help countless of my own relatives to get their papers and it's easier to get to heaven than to get a permanent residency in New Zealand and I can tell you firsthand experience the hoops they have to jump is unbelievable."
Mr Lua says the people now stuck have been contributing to New Zealand's economy, and would play a part in helping the recovery.
"Many of these people after a decade or more have to stay here, so they end up being overstayers because their kids have settled, they've gone to school here, they're basically New Zealanders who have contributed to the tax base of the country and they can't go back home now anyway because many of our borders in the Pacific have closed."
In a statement, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says anyone without a visa needs to contact immigration NZ who he says will treat people with compassion and flexibility.
The petition closed on Sunday with more than 10,000 signatures.
