AKIPRESS.COM - An intrepid traveller was detained in Kazakhstan after immigration officials refused to acknowledge her Kiwi passport, telling her New Zealand was a state of Australia, New Zealand Herald reported.

Chloe Phillips-Harris, 28, had travelled many times to central Asia, and arrived at Almaty Airport in Kazakhstan in May to work on farms and explore the rugged terrain.

Phillips-Harris told the Herald she prepared for the trip by consulting with the New Zealand embassy, who assured her she'd be able to enter the country on her Kiwi passport.

"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.

"They said New Zealand's clearly a part of Australia."

Barred from entering the country, Phillips-Harris was told she'd have to board a flight to China.

"They chucked me on a plane but luckily I knew someone who could help, in those countries it's all about who you know, and so I got off the plane but by that stage I'd raised lots of alarm bells and way too many people got involved," she said.

Phillips-Harris was taken to a tiny interrogation room where there was a large map of the world stuck up on the wall, one that did not include New Zealand, meaning she couldn't point out where she was from.