Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says a bombing at Kabul airport has forced the end of New Zealand's current evacuation mission in Afghanistan. Lawyers for Afghan nationals just a step away from having the immigration paperwork needed to live in New Zealand, are hoping for an urgent court hearing of their claim. Community Law Waikato has worked with Wellington lawyers on an application filed at the High Court in Wellington on August 27 that sought a hearing as soon as possible. Immigration NZ did not respond to Community Law’s request to process the visa applications and had been “flat-footed” on the emerging crisis, and met it with bureaucratic inaction, Moroney said. She said Community Law would rather Immigration NZ use its resources to process the applications rather than defend court action, but the lack of response meant Community Law had no choice.

Source: Stuff August 30, 2021 01:52 UTC