Application for adoption order — immigration status — visa set to expire — Adoption Act 1955. The applicants applied to adopt their niece. A social worker's report had raised fit and proper issues as to education, but another report from an educational psychologist dismissed these concerns. The niece was in New Zealand as a visitor and her visa was due to expire at the end of 2018. She needed an adoption order to be granted permanent residence in New Zealand. Given all the information that had been provided, the Court found that the applicants were fit and proper persons to be adoptive parents. It was appropriate that the niece gain proper immigration status, given she had spent nearly all of her life in New Zealand. The Court granted the adoption order. Judgment Date: 17 January 2018. * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *