Kiwi detained by officials say ‘NZ is not a country’

Kiwi detained by officials say ‘NZ is not a country’

A Kiwi tourist says she was detained in Kazakhstan after immigration officials refused to believe that New Zealand was a country, and not just a distant, unpopular state of Australia. Ouch!

For Chloe Phillips-Harris, who arrived at Kazakhstan’s Almaty Airport in May this year after being assured by the New Zealand embassy that she would be able to enter the Central Asian country on her Kiwi passport, the last thing she expected she would need was an Aussie passport to enter the country.

Apparently, her insistence that New Zealand was, in fact, a country was made difficult when it wasn’t on the map of the world the airport officials had in the interrogation room.

“I landed in Kazakhstan on the last flight of the night, and I got to an immigration booth and they asked me for an Australian passport, and told me I couldn’t come in without an Australian passport,” she told the New Zealand Herald,” Philipps-Harris told the New Zealand Herald.

“Plainclothes policemen got involved, immigration police got involved, airport officials got involved … and at that stage it was a bit late to bribe my way out, which apparently is what I was supposed to do from the beginning, but being a New Zealander we’re not familiar with that.”

Young Kiwi tourist, Chloe Phillips-Harris, said she was detained in Kazakhstan for close to two days.

Young Kiwi tourist, Chloe Phillips-Harris, said she was detained in Kazakhstan for close to two days.

Phillips-Harris said she was able to get out of the situation after her contacts in Kazakhstan helped her secure a US passport and a new visa.

But the 28-year old is not holding a grudge against Borat’s country of origin that refused her entry without an Australian passport.

“It is changing very fast, there’s a huge amount of potential over there. It is corrupt and there are problems but there are a lot of good people there too, it’s just a beautiful country to be in it’s just really unfortunate there was a world map that didn’t have New Zealand on it.”

Yes, quite unfortunate.

We’ll be damned if we ever acknowledge the island ‘across the ditch’, but it turns out Kazakhstan feels much the same.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

kazakhstan new zealand

Latest News

  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]

  • Luxury

Malolo Island Resort opens brand new Spa

Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]