3. Question No. 3—ImmigrationRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) (remote) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 3—Immigration3. RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green) (remote) to the Minister of Immigration: What steps if any will he take to support people in Ukraine fleeing due to invasion and war in their homeland?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): Our thoughts are obviously with the people in Ukraine impacted by the conflict. As we have said Immigration New Zealand are able to prioritise urgent visa applications from Ukrainian nationals and they're also considering what further mechanisms can be utilised within our existing policy. I understand that as of Monday Immigration New Zealand had 172 applications on hand across all visa categories where the principal applicant's nationality is Ukrainian; 106 of those are offshore 66 of those onshore and I understand that 30 applications have been approved in the last week and that in the month of February a total of close to 70 applications were approved. New Zealand is also providing $2 million to Ukraine to help deliver essential humanitarian assistance with a focus on supporting health facilities and meeting basic needs such as provision of food and hygiene items. I want to stress in terms of people in New Zealand it is understandable that people will want to stay here longer and that they can apply for an extension to existing visas. Each application is considered on a case-by-case basis and I understand that the approval rate for the month of February for those types of applications is close to 99 percent. New Zealand also has a longstanding refugee programme where this Government recently increased the quota to 1500. Under this programme we work closely with organisations like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on all emergency referrals and we are working closely with international partners on this and we stand ready to assist with the situation in Ukraine.Ricardo Menéndez March: Will he include Ukrainians on the list of visa-waiver countries so Ukrainians can have safe passage and be reunited with their families in Aotearoa; if not why not?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: If there are Ukrainian nationals who are either citizens or residents in New Zealand they are able to use the channels available to them now to bring their family to New Zealand—their dependents and partners. As I say we stand ready to prioritise applications that come to Immigration New Zealand and we are also ready to deal with any humanitarian crisis obviously and we will be able to look at our UNHCR commitment of 1500 refugees per annum.Ricardo Menéndez March: Point of order. My question was around the visa waivers for Ukraine and I don't believe that was addressed whatsoever.SPEAKER: It mightn't have been answered but it was addressed. The member can have another supplementary to have a go—an extra supplementary.Ricardo Menéndez March: Thank you. Will he commit to removing barriers such as the living together requirement for partnership visas and to reopen the parent category without the high salary requirements so Ukrainians can be safely united with their whānau in Aotearoa?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: To the first part of the question I've already spoken about the prioritisation and the pragmatism that Immigration New Zealand take when dealing with applications from the Ukraine. I would also note that I think most New Zealanders would want to make sure that we keep rigour in the system around making sure that people who are in partnerships are actually in genuine partnerships. But again Immigration will look at every case that comes through Ukraine as I've mentioned. There are a small number of cases at this stage and there's a pragmatic basis to make sure they are making the decisions that suit but also that they have the rigour of a process that we usually have when reassessing temporary visa applications.Ricardo Menéndez March: Has he considered waiving visa fee applications of Ukrainian nationals and people facing war in their homelands?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Not at this stage but if that is a large barrier to people putting forward applications for their situation we can certainly look at it. I don't think that would be too much of an impost given the small number of applications coming in to this day.Erica Stanford: Will he urgently adopt National's suggestion to implement a Ukrainian humanitarian visa to allow immediate family members of Ukrainian Kiwis to travel to New Zealand to keep them safe and if not why not?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As I mentioned in an earlier supplementary answer if Ukrainian nationals are here in New Zealand and they are either residents or citizens they are able for the partners and dependants to be able to apply through the normal means in order to bring their families here. If there are other humanitarian issues that they find themselves in there are also other existing policies—they could do that—and we stand ready with our increased refugee quota of 1500 to deal with any humanitarian crisis that might eventuate.Golriz Ghahraman (remote): Will the Minister commit to taking 2000 Ukrainian refugees who have fled violence who are right now stranded in overcrowded refugee camps at the border to acknowledge that New Zealand's refugee quota has not in fact been filled for the past two years?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: The situation in Ukraine is obviously developing quickly. We are speaking with our international partners on a weekly basis to understand the humanitarian situation there and as I said we are ready to respond to it. This Government recently increased our refugee quota from 750 to 1500 and we stand ready to utilise that to respond to the situation in Ukraine. This Government acted and lifted its weight and took its weight in Afghanistan last year. It will continue to do that with the situation in Ukraine this year with our increased refugee quota.Ricardo Menéndez March: Is he confident the current visa settings are sufficient to reunite Ukrainians with their family; and what are the expectations in regards to the visa processing time lines for those people?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As I mentioned Immigration is able to prioritise applications from Ukrainian nationals and they are doing that as we speak. As I said if we are talking about partners and dependants of Ukrainian nationals who are citizens and residents here at the moment there is the ability for them to bring their families here. There are also other measures in terms of compassionate grounds that people are able to apply for a visa and as I want to stress we also stand ready with our UNHCR commitment to 1500 refugees per annum to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.Golriz Ghahraman (remote): It's good to hear the Minister confirm that the refugee quota still stands but noting that it has in fact been on hold for the past two years will he commit to reopening the refugee quota so Ukrainians fleeing violence and others escaping crises around the world right now can begin to apply for refugee resettlement here again?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: All our refugees come through the UNHCR process so we will work closely to respond to the situation in Ukraine alongside the UNHCR and we will manage that within the 1500 refugees that we have recently increased as I have mentioned. The situation in Ukraine is developing quickly and as we have noted a number of times over the last week we believe that the preference for a lot of the people who are fleeing their homes at the moment is to return to their homes. That is why we are standing ready to respond to the emerging situation in Ukraine.