New Zealand 5-Step Plan for Phased Reopening of its Borders

The New Zealand government has announced a 5-step plan for a phased reopening of the international border.

New Zealand’s borders are reopening in a phased approach for fully vaccinated travellers to enter New Zealand without going into managed isolation and quarantine.

The phased approach has 5 steps.

Step 1 — from Sunday February 27, 11.59 pm
Fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers in Australia can enter New Zealand and self-isolate on arrival. Eligible travellers must have spent the previous 14 days in Australia and meet health requirements before they travel.

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
• people with border exceptions
• those exempt from border entry restrictions such as diplomats and air crew, except those that are travelling from Very High-Risk countries, and
• partners, dependent children or parents of a dependent child who:
• holds a visa based on the relationship to a New Zealand citizen or resident
• is travelling with a New Zealand citizen or resident
• is ordinarily resident in New Zealand.

Step 2 — from Sunday 13 March, 11.59 pm
Fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers from anywhere in the world can enter New Zealand and self-isolate on arrival.

We will also make the following changes to schemes and border exceptions:

• Working Holiday Schemes will reopen on a rolling basis (the staging and timing of individual schemes will be confirmed)
• the income criteria for the Other Critical Worker border exception will be reduced to 1.5 times the median wage (NZD $84,240 a year or NZD $40.50 an hour) for roles longer than 6 months
• the requirement for Other Critical Workers to demonstrate that the skills are not readily obtainable in New Zealand will be removed, and
• the highly skilled family reunification border exception will be aligned with the 1.5 times the median wage bright line test for Other Critical Workers.
• All travellers must meet health requirements before travel.

Restrictions on travel from very high risk countries

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
• people with border exceptions
• those exempt from border entry restrictions such as diplomats and air crew, except those that are travelling from Very High-Risk countries, and
• partners, dependent children or parents of a dependent child who:
• holds a visa based on the relationship to a New Zealand citizen or resident
• is travelling with a New Zealand citizen or resident
• is ordinarily resident in New Zealand.

Step 3 — from Tuesday 12 April, 11.59 pm
Temporary visa holders currently outside New Zealand and who have a valid visa can enter New Zealand as long as they still meet their visa requirements.

Up to 5000 international students can enter New Zealand for semester 2.

Workforce class exceptions and events, and government approved programme lists, will be extended and updated as needed.

NOTE
We will provide more details about step 3 in the future, including the scope of new border exceptions, updates to exceptions and government approved lists.

Step 4 — from July 2022
Our borders will open to:

• Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and other foreign nationals travelling from Australia
• visitors from visa-waiver countries
• Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) holders.

NOTE
The AEWV will mainly be limited to roles that pay above the New Zealand median wage. More information on this will be made available soon.

Step 5 — from October 2022
The border opens for all other New Zealand visa holders, including visitor and student visas, unless the visa is closed or paused.

Managed isolation and quarantine requirements
From 23 December 2021 travellers to New Zealand from all countries, except eligible passengers from a quarantine-free travel zone, must complete a 10-day stay in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ). 

You are legally required to obtain a Managed Isolation Allocation system voucher confirming your place in a managed isolation facility before boarding a flight.  

WARNING
Without a voucher confirming your allocation in a managed Isolation facility you will not be able to board your flight to New Zealand. A Managed Isolation Allocation system voucher is not a visa. 

https://www.immigration.govt.nz