Immigration NZ apologises, will prioritise Ukrainian woman's visa

A Dunedin woman has mixed feelings about her daughter-in-law making her way across war-torn Ukraine after Immigration New Zealand stepped in to help following an initial blunder.

Dianne Souness heard yesterday her daughter-in-law, Anna Heraskina, had left Kharkiv, close to the border with Russia, and was heading towards Ukraine's western border in the hope of eventually making it to New Zealand.

Souness said the news was ''great'' but also very worrying as the danger of travelling through a war zone was unimaginable.

On Friday, Heraskina received an automated response from Immigration New Zealand (INZ) saying she would need to visit the visa application centre in Kyiv to have her passport verified.

A day earlier, Russia had invaded Ukraine.

INZ apologised for sending the automated email and is now prioritising her visa application.

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Souness hailed her daughter-in-law's bravery in moving across a war zone and was hopeful she would make it to New Zealand.

Heraskina's husband, Alexander Foster, who is living in Auckland, said his wife was headed towards the border in a convoy of three cars.

She was with friends, her niece and her niece's husband and their 3-year-old child.

They were hoping to cross into Hungary or Poland, but were unsure of where they would make the border crossing.

Diane Souness' son Alexander Foster and her Ukrainian daughter-in-law Anna Heraskina. Photo / Supplied

When they arrived at the border, the women and children would leave while the men would go back to fight, as per the martial law active in Ukraine at present.

Foster said he was ''worried sick'' about his wife on her journey, which he expected would take at least three days.

On Tuesday he was told his wife's application was being prioritised by INZ.

He was happy that, in the end, INZ was actively helping to get his wife's application processed online without her needing to travel to Kyiv, but he felt the Government could do more to help people leave Ukraine.

INZ border and visa operations general manager Nicola Hogg said no ministerial intervention was made in Heraskina's case.

INZ was doing as much as it could to help people with urgent visa applications.

The Minister for Immigration had spoken to INZ about the situation and asked what mechanisms could be used within existing policy, she said.