The government is extending the temporary visas of more than 100 Ukrainian nationals in response to the Russian invasion.
Kris Faafoi Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
It is part of a suite of immigration measures to support Ukrainians to stay or quickly return to New Zealand.
One hundred and forty Ukrainian nationals with temporary visas that are due to expire this year have been given an automatic 12-month extension.
They are among an estimated 300 Ukrainians with temporary visas for Aotearoa.
A further 250 citizens who hold a valid New Zealand visa offshore are also now able to bypass the border settings and return immediately.
Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi said the changes gave Ukrainians certainty at a time when their country was under attack from Russian forces and they may be unable to return home.
"New Zealand was one of the first to give humanitarian support to Ukrainians when Russia invaded, and although we know the numbers are small we are fast-tracking support for Ukrainians to remain in or return to New Zealand immediately," he said.
Ukrainians seeking safe haven for relatives
The government is also considering further border exemptions for wider family members of Ukrainians in New Zealand - a move Ukrainians based in this country are campaigning for.
Dunedin woman Olga Viazenko has two teenage stepsons stuck in Kyiv, while her mother and mother-in-law have managed to make the arduous trip across the border to Poland.
Both women were in their 70s and were exhausted after sleepless nights and a lack of access to food and water during their dangerous journey, she said.
An American man who none of them know had given the women the temporary use of his apartment in Krakow.
Viazenko was now nervous about the fate of her stepsons, who were 13 and 15, and facing making a similar escape from Kyiv.
She was urging the government to offer a solution so that their loved ones could come to New Zealand on a special visa.
"It's really hard. Ukrainians in New Zealand we cannot sleep properly."
She was scared about the fate of both elderly women who only had herself and her husband to turn to.
"They need help," she said.
Faafoi said more time was needed to decide which extra relatives might be allowed to come to New Zealand.
He expected to talk with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees later today.
Discussions were also being held with aid agencies working with the refugees and while they were distressed, most expressed a desire to eventually return to their homeland, Faafoi said.
It was difficult to estimate how many extra Ukrainians might be allowed to come in and the government needed to understand the full implications before making a decision.
He told Checkpoint he hoped to announce a decision within a week.
Two Ukrainian children wait at Krakow railway station. They are among hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled to Poland since Russia invaded their country. Photo: AFP
Yesterday Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the government would press ahead with a Russia Sanctions Bill which will allow New Zealand to freeze the assets of those connected with Russia.
It will be passed under urgency this week.
