Human error allowed a former diplomat for Saddam Hussein's regime entry into New Zealand last year, the Department of Immigration said in Wellington Tuesday.

The unnamed man and his wife trying to seek New Zealand refugee status was asked Monday to leave the country, said Immigration Minister Paul Swain.

Swain said Monday the couple's visitor permit had been revoked as well. Immigration Department spokeswoman Mary Anne Thompson said a staff member at the service's Bangkok office failed to notify their manager of the diplomat's application and his past was not logged onto his electronic case file. Thompson said the man has been a professional diplomat for 20 years for Iraq but was never a minister as reported in Hussein's government.

Swain said the man and his wife are "unsuitable" to stay in the country.

The pair have 14 days to appeal the decision. If he chooses not to appeal but stays in New Zealand, he will become an overstayer and could be removed.