The government decision of removing the requirement of NZ citizens or residents to travel along with their partners currently stranded overseas to allow them back into the country has finally become operational on Thursday, June 18.
This was confirmed to the Indian Weekender by an official spokesperson of the Immigration New Zealand a short while ago.
“The changes announced by the government on Friday, June 12 making changes to the current border restrictions and exceptions criteria and process have come into effect yesterday,” the spokesperson told the Indian Weekender a short while ago.
Notably, ever since Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway had first told the media about the government’s decision of the impending change the number of applications for such exceptions witnessed a massive spike, although, INZ’s frontline officers continued to decline those applications.
The frontline officers continued to reject applications for travel exceptions on the basis that they were not officially updated about the said government-announcement, causing much disappointment.
“The announcement made by the minister is not yet implemented and unfortunately we do not have a timeframe on when these changes become applicable,” the email response from a customer service officer to one such applicant whose story the Indian Weekender had published on June 12, categorically said.
Since then many such applicants have been waiting anxiously to see if the government’s decision could become effective on the ground.
Explaining further about the changes that became effective since yesterday, the spokesperson said, “The change will help reunite New Zealand based families who have been separated by the current border restrictions.
The INZ spokesperson further explained how this announcement can help families currently separated because of border restrictions.
“Partners or dependents of a New Zealand citizen or resident who are ordinarily resident in New Zealand but do not have a relationship-based visa should request a border exception. If their request is approved, they will then be invited to apply for a visitor visa, another visa that suits their circumstances, or to vary their existing visa to allow them to travel.”
“Partners of New Zealand citizens or residents who are not travelling together, are not on a relationship-based visa or are not ordinarily resident in New Zealand will still be subject to the border restrictions, unless they meet another border exception criteria,” the spokesperson said.
The Indian Weekender further raised the issue of a small group of hundreds of partners whose original partnership visa applications were caught up in visa processing delays related to re-interpretation of Indian marriages in mid to late 2019 and were part of a cohort of 1200 applicants invited again by the INZ to re-apply for a partnership based visa.
The INZ spokesperson had clarified that if the entry date mentioned on their first partnership based visa was still valid then they can travel without any exception.
“However, if in doubt, the INZ strongly encourages everyone to apply for a travel exception to avoid any disappointment at the airport,” the spokesperson further clarified.
"The changes that have come into effect today will allow more people to be eligible for an exception to the strict border restrictions, however there will continue to be a number of individuals who will not meet the exception criteria to travel to New Zealand.
"INZ understands how difficult this will be for individuals who still don’t meet the exception criteria. But the bar for being granted an exception to the border restrictions is set high to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of people already in New Zealand and INZ has no ability to apply discretion when considering requests against the strict border criteria decided by Cabinet," the spokesperson said.