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New Zealand reopens - the end of this long tunnel is now in sight - but how long a tunnel for some?
- Katy Armstrong
- Feb 4, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 9, 2022
This really has been a long, and at times dark, two years. Hard to believe we're only 6 weeks off the 2 year anniversary of the border closure.
Yesterday was a day to be remembered: 3rd Feb 2022. The day we were given an 8 month, 5 step journey to re-opening.
The PM said these steps could be brought forward, not back. But of course, our covid response Minister has also said we can't guarantee anything when in a global pandemic.
Our 'phones and all messaging inlets were awash with desperate messages yesterday and overnight. Journalists were calling. Politicians wanted a briefing. Employers needing to know what of this new roadmap. Most were anxious migrants wondering when they can get their families in. An air of complete desperation about them. After 2+ and in many cases nearing 3 years, separated from partners and children. While hardened to the stories after my own involvement with so many for so long, hearing from a man last night set me off all over again. He has, through his own sense of guilt and shyness, never come to the fore before. Guilt that he last saw his baby aged 10 days. Guilt that he left his wife overseas with postnatal issues, but to forge ahead with a family's plan for a better life here in New Zealand. Or so he thought. He came to do a Master's and is now in good work. He never imagined getting separated like this. These stories are not outliers - they abound. But this one for some reason, triggered me after a raw day. Why? Because in the 5 stages of re-opening, many discovered that it would be October until they could even begin the process of reunification.
In providing the following information, I stress we still only have the bare details. Announcements set the general tone and intent. They are always followed by immigration instructions that provide the "devil in detail" stuff. While awaiting those instructions, it is unsafe to guess what the fine print may be - we are very much ones for getting the written word and analysing. We do not have a date for that but given 27 Feb is the kickoff, we expect to have something by then.
Now if you have over an hour to spare you can watch the full announcement which was made at Mindlab in Auckland, yesterday at 11am at this link:
You can also access the PM's full speech here;
Or you can read on for a synopsis of just what happened there.
Let's look at the re-opening plan in detail with a bit of commentary you won't find on the INZ website. There are 5 steps.
All involve:
pre-departure PCR testing
10 days (which the PM indicated would likely become 7 before step 1 opens) home isolation - you will be given a stash of 3 Rapid Antigen Tests on arrival.
Being double vaxxed ((although that could become triple according to the PM). Our current rules also apply only to children aged 16+ but it is as yet unclear if travelling with unvaccinated children will lead to having to go into MIQ - details we will be looking for in the coming days and weeks
Fines of up to $12,000 for any breach of the rules
MIQ for the unvaccinated. This is a general statement. We await detail of what happens in the case of children (the current rules exempt children under 16) and whether any non-citizen will even be allowed to travel at all if unvaccinated, even into MIQ. There is no detail on this as yet. Currently, only Kiwis can come unvaccinated unless we're talking a child or someone with an accepted exemption. Those all pass through MIQ.
So what are these 5 steps? This table produced by INZ is rather helpful in summarising but further details - still evolving - are set out beneath it:
Taking the steps in turn with more detail (click on the arrow to expand):
Step 1: 11.59pm 27 February 2022: New Zealanders in Australia
The above table actually mentions not only New Zealanders who are, by the way, Citizens or Residence/PR visa holders, but also other :eligible travellers". Eligible travellers are defined as:
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.
In the finer print, we learn that those eligible to travel in Nauru, Tuvalu and American Samoa will also be able to enter from Step 1.
Step 2: 11.59 pm 13 March 2022: New Zealanders & "other eligible travellers" from around the world...
So, see the meaning of "eligible traveller" above.
Working Holiday Schemes will begin to reopen. This, it was said, to help prepare for Step 4 where tourists from some countries will be able to come. A clear signal as to how desperate we are for the lower skilled labour in hospitality etc. that working holiday visa holders are associated with. There could be up to 50,000 in a normal year, so this is a significant number but, of course, some working holiday schemes have specific quotas and opening dates so it will not be open slather all at once.
The salary criteria for critical workers coming in for the first time in roles longer than six months will be reduced to 1.5 times the median wage. The requirement for these workers to demonstrate ‘unique experience and technical or specialist skills that are not readily obtainable in New Zealand’ will be removed.
This part is potentially highly significant as long-term critical workers have, to date, needed a salary of $106,080. 1.5 times median is just under $85k and so a much more realistic threshold. The having to prove a role is "not readily obtainable in NZ" is also interesting and signals that certain skills will be deemed as being in shortage.
I will be personally interested to see the fine print here. The PM said "this means that health workers, farm managers, horticultural workers, tech sector professionals, those working for accounting services, in education and construction, will all be eligible to enter New Zealand, self-isolate for a short period and then go about their business. Adding to the more than 17,000 critical workers who have already come to New Zealand since our borders closed." Is this signalling that critical workers will be in particular cherry-picked sectors in this ongoing bid to re-set immigration through the pretext of Covid or were those just examples?
Also mentioned in this grouping were the highly skilled workers’ family members who may have been separated from their loved ones. In other words, we're to believe a person in NZ that's been split from family and earns 1.5 x median may be able to reunite at this point. Forgive me for being sceptical. To date, I know just how technical and full of fishhooks this part of instructions can be. With the family reunification, last April they gave us a category which was advertised as covering the "highly skilled" earning twice median. The decline rate turned out to be 90% due to the finer points around having to have unique/time-critical skill etc. It was never a simple case of meeting the salary and bingo! So we await the full instructions to analyse.
Of further note: mentioned in one place, but not others: Workers entering under the 1.5 x median critical worker category will not be eligible for the special 2021 Resident Visa. This will need to be clarified once we see the instructions.
The Minister of Immigration when answering questions said they estimated up to 20,000 workers might qualify under this new criterion and so clearly, those coming in will need to know that for residence, they will be looking at the Skilled MIgrant Category (SMC) Last year, it was rumoured that SMC salary thresholds might go to 1.5 x median unless in a registered profession. I cannot help but muse on whether this 1.5 mentioned yesterday is a signal of that becoming a reality. Those in NZ already earning just median and not 1.5 median will need to know but that is for another day.
Step 3: 11.59pm 12 April 2022: Some Temporary visa holders and International Students
Current offshore temporary visa holders (who still meet relevant visa requirements) and up to 5000 international students selected by the Ministry of Education from 11:59 pm from Tuesday 12 April. Note the words: "selected by the MOE". It is not open slather. We will have to see but to date, they have selected only certain subjects and levels of courses.
Wider entry for sports and other events will be enabled. Note how this got snuck in - a controversial topic for many when we we have let in sportspersons over other much-needed workers or Kiwis or split migrant family members!
As for the temporary visa holders that can travel in from this date it remains unclear whether anyone who now travels out of NZ on a temporary visa will be able to come in or just those already stuck out. On iteration so far talks about "currently outside NZ". Does that mean "current" as of now, or current as of when wanting to travel? Believe it or not, there have been several thousand visa holders whose entire lives were in NZ - sometimes for many years - who got stuck on 19 March with no way in. That has been one of the darkest elements of our border closure for me ever since it happened. Australia has now let all its visa holders return and has extended visas that could not be used. What is very clear is that in NZ, there's been very little care for that migrant cohort who have been treated as entirely dispensible. Post-study visas are for 2 or 3 years and most will have expired or be very close to expiring by the time this increasingly hollow offer to let them return kicks in. For someone who held a work visa tied to a job where the employer has had to terminate their employment. dueto. the prolonged absence, will also find they are excluded as you cannot enter unless the conditions of your visa are still met. When entering NZ you are also meant to have funds available. It remains to be seen how many of those stuck for 2 + years, often without jobs, having had to pay off rents etc. in NZ will have the money to return. I could wax on about how devastating this is all is but will leave it there for you to make your own mind up as to the justice or injustice of this aspect of having a closed border.
Additional and expanded class exceptions for critical workers earning below 1.5 times the median wage will be implemented from Step 3. So there's a concession for the lower payed jobs but it will still be about being "critical". Certainly not business as usual.
Step 4: By July (date unspecified and note the word "by"... all eyes will be on whether this can come forward): Australians, Visitors from Visa Waiver Countries and the new Accredited Employer Work (AEWV) Visa holders:
Opening travel to Australians and visitors from visa waiver countries means family members of more onshore temporary migrants will be able to visit New Zealand. At this point, the border exception pathway for critical workers will be phased out as it will no longer be needed with the opening of the new AEWV category. The new Accredited Employer Work Visa will be limited mainly to roles that pay above the median wage. Workforce class exceptions and other border exceptions will remain in place where needed until wider visa processing resumes.
So this is a date to remember. No more Critical Purpose anything from a date in July. I had always said the government would likely control the flow of workers through critical purpose for as long as they could hold out to ensure the new Accredited Employer scheme can kick in. They simply would not have wanted anyone to avoid the new scheme unless considered Critical in the meantime. There was never going to be a border opening that did not further the agenda to cut numbers and force employers to become accredited.
Step 5: October (date unspecified): All others. This is when normal visa processing is said to resume.
Most visa categories, including visitor and student visas, will reopen in October.
This is in itself an interesting statement. "Most" - which is not known precisely. Many are asking about the parent category. We cannot assume that will open in October unless specifically advised. Also, we were previously told the off-shore visa processing for all but partners of Kiwis would be suspended to 6 August. Currently, we're under a suspension to 6 Feb but the new suspension signed off some months back will no doubt kick in following. However, this news that visa processing will resume in October seems to signal that August. is no longer the date. Interesting turn of events - August already felt so far away. This is the most devastating potentially of all the announcements as it means for those non-visa waiver family members split from Kiwis or temporary visa holders this entire pandemic, they will only be able to have visas issued or commenced from October. Our fears are that many will then be facing the 4th Christmas apart unless processed quickly in October. I don't mean to be negative, but I simply cannot square this approach. Families need to reunite. Our man who has sunk all his life savings into a Master's degree, working in NZ throughout the pandemic who became trapped by his circumstances and has not seen his baby needs to be reunited long before a tourist comes to NZ. Making distinctions based on nationality and whether from a visa-free country or not should have no place at all in deciding which families to reunite. It is discriminatory and, to my mind, unacceptable. It has no place in a modern, forward-thinking, inclusive society. Here's an article
There is clearly much more analysis to come as the instructions flow through. In the meantime, hopefully, this gives some sort of clear starting point - as far as we can go. Though mixed elation and sadness in here, we do at least now have some sort of roadmap we did not have 48 hours ago.
If interested in what is likely to become of MIQ: here's an article from 4 Feb:
And lastly, an article in which I was able to express the reality around what this "opening" means for most split families.
Ka kite,
Katy & Team (Nishi, Amitabh, Lilian, Vivian, Virginia, Loren and Navya).
We have since had confirmation from INZ that in April, the reference to temporary visa holders will cover those temporary visa holders in New Zealand who travel out and want to get back in. As always, the terms of the visa will still need to be met. So if a visa is dependent on a job then that job will need to still be in place and at the border, checks can be made e.g. through a call to the employer. If a job offer has been held for two years we can probably expect to see some digging going on!