Ukraine crisis: National's Erica Stanford and Greens' Golriz Ghahraman and Ricardo Menendez March want NZ to welcome Ukrainians fleeing war

Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman wants New Zealand to offer to take Ukrainian refugees. Photo / Mark Mitchell

There is growing appetite in Parliament for New Zealand to immediately welcome people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United Nations believes more than 500,000 people have already fled.

National and the Greens today called for the Government to urgently begin welcoming Ukrainians.

National's immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford urged the Government to create a "special humanitarian visa" for immediate family members of Ukrainians who have settled in New Zealand.

"The situation in Ukraine is worsening by the day and Ukrainian Kiwis will be extremely worried about the safety of their family members back home," Stanford said.

"This is something New Zealand can do now to support our Ukrainian Kiwis to bring their immediate family members here. There are approximately 1500 Ukrainians living in New Zealand, so this could benefit thousands of people in desperate situations," she said.

Stanford said the Government should also be fast-tracking existing visa applications for Ukrainians, as Australia has done.

The Greens want the Government to urgently offer to resettle refugees.

New Zealand resettles up to 1500 refugees a year, through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resettlement programme.

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said more than 500,000 people had left Ukraine in the four days since Russia invaded.

Greens foreign affairs spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman said the Government's response must "focus first and foremost on what we can do to support ordinary people facing crisis".

She said the Government should offer places to 2000 refugees, given the national quota had not been filled for two years, thanks to Covid. She said Auckland's resettlement centre, where refugees are welcomed into the country, could be used as an MIQ facility.
Ghahraman urged the Government to include refugees from all ethnicities, as well as those from rainbow communities.

African students based in Ukraine have reportedly struggled to escape the country because of racist biases of border guards.

Greens immigration spokesman Ricardo Menendez March said Ukrainian nationals based in New Zealand "should have their visas automatically extended, so that they are able to remain here while a war rages in their homeland".

He said that visas should also be expedited quickly to partners and family members of Ukrainians in New Zealand.

"We must not let Immigration bureaucracy get in the way of visas being expedited quickly to partners and family members of Ukrainian people based in Aotearoa," he said.