Stephen Paea dreams of playing professional basketball but now faces an uncertain future Photo: Stephen Paea
The treatment of overstayers in New Zealand has long been criticised by human rights advocates.
Among the most controversial of New Zealand's immigration policies is denying citizenship to overstayers who arrived to New Zealand as children.
One of them is 19-year-old Aucklander basketballer Stephen Paea.
He only found out he was an overstayer last year after finishing high school.
Paea arrived to New Zealand from Tonga when he was just two years old,
To his friends, Paea is as Kiwi as pavlova but in the eyes of the authorities he is an illegal migrant.
RNZ Pacific's Finau Fonua spoke with Stephen Paea to talk about the challenges he faces.
