New Zealand will soon be reopening its borders to vaccinated Kiwis and other current eligible travellers from Australia, assisting with the economic recovery and addressing worker shortages.
Aside from this, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi also announced that the same groups from the rest of the world will also be allowed to enter the country by 13 March.
The New Zealand Government’s reconnecting plan will see all New Zealanders and key visa holders able to start to enter the country over the coming three months.
“This is a very carefully developed plan that replaces MIQ for the vast majority of travellers while ensuring we maintain ongoing measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community from recent arrivals,” Minister Hipkins said.
“With 94 per cent of our population fully vaccinated, and 92 per cent of those over 18 now eligible for a booster by the end of February it’s time to shift gears in our COVID-19 response to focus on reconnection and recovery.”
The New Zealand Government is currently reducing the time to get boosted in order to reach the highest possible boosted rates before fully reopening to the rest of the world.
Starting 27 February, vaccinated New Zealanders and eligible travellers from Australia will be able to enter New Zealand without staying in MIQ.
Meanwhile, New Zealanders and eligible travellers from the rest of the world will be able to come home two weeks after that date.
While travellers will no longer need to stay in MIQ, the New Zealand Government will maintain border measures to reduce the spread of the virus.
After this, the country will then reopen its borders to a range of visa holders by re-opening Working Holiday Visa schemes.
This is a critical part of the country’s plan to rebuild from COVID, which will address skills and labour shortages and accelerate economic recovery.
“This will supply urgently needed workers for the tourism, hospitality, wine and horticultural sectors as well as providing some much-needed visitor spending,” Minister Faafoi said.
Aside from this, the New Zealand Government will also be simplifying the application process for the critical worker border exception. This will allow skilled workers to enter the borders without the need to demonstrate their skills.
“By the time we start to reopen our border, we’ll be one of the most vaccinated and most boosted countries in the world and the COVID-19 Protection Framework will be well established in helping to manage COVID outbreaks,” Minister Hipkins said.
“Our plan has built-in protections to help manage risks such as future variants. A phased approach to reopening reduces the risk of a surge of cases while prioritising the return of New Zealanders and much-needed entry of skilled workers.”
Source: Beehive.govt.nz