NZ Border Reopening – what it means for you

On 24 November, the Government announced that New Zealand will in 2022 reopen itself to the outside world and commence processing visas currently suspended. This will happen in the following stages:

• Fully vaccinated New Zealand citizens and those residence-class visa holders and other travellers eligible under our current settings can travel to NZ from Australia without staying in MIQ from 11.59pm Sunday, 16 January 2022.

• Fully vaccinated New Zealand citizens and those residence-class visa holders and other travellers eligible under our current border settings, from all but Very High-Risk countries, can travel to NZ without staying in MIQ from 11.59pm Sunday 13 February.

• All fully vaccinated individuals will be able to travel to NZ without staying in MIQ from 30 April 2022 onwards, with this step of the border reopening staged over time, possibly by visa category.

• The Very High-Risk classification for Indonesia, Fiji, India, Pakistan, and Brazil will be removed early next month.

It is important to note not all foreign nationals will be able to enter New Zealand from 30 April 2022. This step of the border reopening will be phased to manage the ongoing need for volume controls on the number of arrivals into New Zealand and to manage health risks and immigration visa processing capacity.

The Minister of Immigration will report back to the Reconnecting New Zealanders Ministerial Group in December with proposals for staging and phasing the re-opening of visa categories and options for visa processing priorities for reopening the third step.

Under the reconnecting approach, the Government has said that the intent is that the entry pathways would remain stable, unless there are significant changes in the COVID-19 situation, such as a major new variant of concern or overwhelming pressure on our health system due to increasing case numbers.

More information about when international students will be able to return to New Zealand without staying in MIQ will be available in early 2022 once the Government has made decisions on the phasing of step three.

Until then the Government has stated that the current border settings will remain in place.