We have received an overwhelming number of inquires from the citizens of Ukraine and Russia about their ability to apply for visas.

INZ confirmed this morning that standard immigration settings are currently kept to deal with the unfolding situation between Russia and Ukraine. INZ were not instructed to prepare any amendments related to this as of today.

For Ukrainian citizens

We were also informed that any advice on a humanitarian response would be led by MFAT. At this stage it is not expected that holders of Ukrainian passports will be having any issues with thein New Zealand visas (including RV2021).

We are currently preparing our letters to MFAT and the Minister of Immigration asking to create refugee quotas for Ukrainian citizens and allow close family members (such as children and partners) of those in New Zealand to enter (either on special visas or on visas they have applied for before the border closure, where applicable).

New Zealand announced new 2022 Special Ukraine Visa to reunite families. Applications are open for 12 months from 15 March 2022. Ukrainian New Zealanders can sponsor family members in Ukraine to apply for the new temporary visa. This includes:

• parents
• grandparents
• siblings
• adult children.

Each of those people can include their partners and dependent children in their visa application. You can read more about it in our article.

We will also be testing our a critical purpose visa application to see if INZ would look at it favourably. It is not necessarily an option as following Afghanistan matters immigration instructions related to the critical purpose visas were amended to exclude humanitarian grounds. Thus, when determining whether an applicant meets the compassionate entry requirements, factors that are not considered relevant include whether:

• the applicant has been affected by a humanitarian crisis occurring outside of New Zealand
• an application, sponsorship registration, or Expression of Interest for a New Zealand visa has been made.

We will post on Facebook if we have any advise as to how to bring relatives/family here.

For Russian citizens

There is a possibility that National Security Checks will now take even longer than before, but there is nothing currently to indicate that New Zealand will be refusing visas for Russian citizens.

It has been confirmed that there was a government discussion about the situation but at this stage there is no immigration response planned. It is not expected that holders of Russian or Ukrainian passports will be having any issues with thein New Zealand visas (including RV2021).

Moving forward

At this stage we hope that both, Russian and Ukrainian citizens will not be adversely affected by any immigration rules and that visas will be granted for offshore applicants from October this year as planned. The situation is ongoing and we will be posting any further news when they become available.

As always, we promote peace and stand ready to support the citizens of all countries with their immigration matters.