The government has taken another shot at New Zealand’s border re-opening after having backed out once previously earlier this year with an announcement of a five-step process of reconnecting with the rest of world starting on February 27 and hopefully ending in October 2022.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made an announcement in an event co-hosted by Mind Lab in conjunction with Business New Zealand unveiling the five-stage process of re-connecting New Zealand with the rest of the world.
In the first step, fully vaccinated Kiwis and other currently eligible travellers from Australia will be able to travel to New Zealand from 11:59pm Sunday, February 27, and instead of going into MIQ, will be able to self-isolate at homes.
Who are eligible travellers who would be allowed to enter in Stage 1
Eligible travellers include:
- New Zealand citizens,
- New Zealand permanent residents or resident visa holders,
- Australian citizens or permanent residence visa holders where New Zealand is your primary place of established residence,
- holders of a critical purpose visa (with a border exception), or
- partners, dependent child/ren or parents of a dependent child who is:
- a New Zealand citizen,
- a New Zealand resident, or
In step 2, just two weeks later (March 13) fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other currently eligible travellers from the rest of the world will also be able to travel into New Zealand without going through MIQ.
5000 International Students to be allowed in April 2022
In the step 2, the government is proposing to allow 5000 international students in the country to be able to start second semester of studies.
“We further extend our border extension to include a large international student cohort of up to 5,000 students for entry ahead of semester 2 and temporary visa holders who still meet relevant visa requirements,” Ardern said.
Off-shore Temporary migrant workers who still meet the visa eligibility to be allowed in April
The government has announced that it will consider opening to current offshore temporary visa holders, who can still meet the relevant visa requirements.
It is however not clear that how many temporary migrant workers stuck overseas since March 2020 will still have a valid visa, valid employment and be able to meet eligibility criteria.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi had recently told the Indian Weekender (January 19) that there was no plan to extend expired visas of offshore stuck temporary work visa holders.
Only high earning, high skilled temporary migrant workers to be allowed entry in April 2022
Continuing the snub of epic proportionate towards the class of temporary migrant workers the government will be opening the borders for only so-called high earning (earning 1.5 times more than median wages) high-skilled migrant workers in the second stage.
PM Ardern said, “The new work visa will be mainly available to workers earning over the median wage as part of the Immigration Rebalance changes. The Minister of Immigration will have more to say about this and other immigration rebalance measures soon.”
It is to say that only those temporary migrant workers who have job offers of $84,240 will be granted permission to enter the country.
It is to say that only those temporary migrant workers who have job offers of $84,240 will be granted permission to enter the country.
Accredited Employer Work Visa holders to be allowed in July 2022
The government is envisaging to bring migrant workers from overseas under the earlier announced but yet delayed from being operationalised – Accredited Employer Work Visas – in the 4th stage of border reopening in July this year.
The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is a temporary work visa being introduced on 4 July 2022, where only those employers who are accredited will be eligible to hire and bring temporary migrant workers from overseas.
Businesses and employers are required to attain different levels of accreditation from Immigration New Zealand to be eligible to hire migrant workers.
Border to be fully opened for visitors from all over the world in October 2022
Finally, the border will be completely opened to all visitors from all around the world and all visa categories in October 2022.
Notably, currently Immigration New Zealand is not processing any visas for off-shore applications (except partnership and relationship-based applications with partners or family members living in New Zealand – citizen or resident).
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