Story Archive

Kiwi in Dodo-land

Chloe Phillips-Harris says she checked with the Kazakh embassy and was told that with her New Zealand passport, she could get her visa when she got to Almaty. But when she landed, she says she was told she actually needed an Australian passport because “New Zealand’s clearly a part of Australia.” She said they put her on a plane to China, which she had traveled through. She reached out to a contact, “way too many people got involved,” and she was taken to a room with a world map that omitted New Zealand, she said. Eventually, she was allowed to leave the airport. She concluded that she was supposed to have paid a bribe, “but being a New Zealander, we’re not familiar with that.” According to local media, the Border Service of Kazakhstan says the incident is “nonsense.” (AC/New Zealand Herald) ...New Zealand: Australian for Canada.