A directive has been sent to Immigration New Zealand staff with orders to not grant visas to Russians blacklisted by the country's security allies.
A directive sent to all Immigration New Zealand staff yesterday declared Russian individuals expelled from certain countries will be banned. Photo: 123rf.com
The government flagged the changes following the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal in Britain in March.
Immigration New Zealand will now ban Russian individuals expelled from certain countries from 6 August.
The directive was sent to all staff yesterday, and will be added to the Immigration Manual in due course.
The new restriction joins the chapter of the manual which outlines bans on leading members of the Syrian regime, individuals associated with the Ukraine crisis, and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace.
New Zealand also has existing bans on leading members of the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) including Serbia and their supporters, and complies with United Nations sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Korea in terms of work visas.
Visas will still be granted to those Russians on the ban list where special circumstances exist and are "supported by cogent and reliable evidence and in consultation with MFAT" but that decision can only be made by top level officials.
The government faced global pressure to fall in behind Britain in condemning Russia for the Novichok attack in Salisbury.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters were criticised for being slow to do so, and then for not being able to find any Russian spies to expel from New Zealand as Britain's other partners made moves to kick them out.
As a result, the government asked its security partners to provide them with a list of those Russians they had expelled.
Ms Ardern said in March New Zealand would impose travel restrictions on them.
"Those names will then be placed on a travel ban list to ensure that individuals who have been found to undertake activities incompatible with their diplomatic status in other countries do not enter New Zealand," she said.