The long-awaited announcement on when Aotearoa's borders will reopen to the world was made on Wednesday afternoon and it's not entirely good news for Kiwis here and overseas.
Minister for COVID-19 Response, Chris Hipkins, announced "fully vaccinated New Zealanders will find it easier to come home from January 2022."
The announcement included three key dates for the reopening of our borders amid the pandemic.
What do they mean for you?
January 16, 2022
Today's announcement means the wait for fully vaccinated New Zealanders, residence-class visa holders and other travellers eligible under our current settings to be able to travel to New Zealand from Australia without staying in MIQ will end at 11.59pm on January 16, 2022, provided they have been in Australia or New Zealand for the past 14 days.
- What does this mean for Kiwis in Australia?
If you're a Kiwi in Australia, you can come home and avoid the need to stay at an MIQ facility.
You will need to self-isolate for seven days and must provide a final negative test before entering the community.
You must provide a negative pre-departure test, proof of being fully vaccinated, a passenger declaration about travel history, and a day 0/1 test on arrival.
- What does this mean for Kiwis in other countries?
There is no change for you on this date, you'll still need to be processed through the MIQ system.
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- What does this mean for Kiwis in New Zealand?
You can travel to Australia without the need to secure a spot in MIQ upon your return.
However, when you do return you will also need to self-isolate for seven days and provide a final negative test before entering the community.
You must provide a negative pre-departure test, proof of being fully vaccinated, a passenger declaration about travel history, and a day 0/1 test on arrival.
February 13, 2022
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' will be able to arrive in Aotearoa without the need for MIQ from 11.59pm on February 13, 2022.
- What does this mean for Kiwis in Australia?
No further changes to those put in place on January 16.
- What does this mean for Kiwis in other countries?
If you're New Zealander somewhere around the world other than Australia or Aotearoa, you can finally come home and avoid the need to stay at an MIQ facility.
You will need to self-isolate for seven days, and provide a final negative test before entering the community.
A negative pre-departure test must be provided, as will a proof of being fully vaccinated, a passenger declaration about travel history, and a day 0/1 test on arrival.
- What does this mean for Kiwis in New Zealand?
The world is finally your oyster - with a catch. You can now travel to most places in the world, except for countries on the very high-risk countries list.
That list currently includes Brazil, Fiji, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, all of which are set to be removed from it next month. It also includes Papua New Guinea, which currently is not scheduled to have its risk reclassified.
The catch with travelling internationally after February 13 is upon return you will need to self-isolate for seven days and provide a final negative test before entering the community.
A negative pre-departure test must be provided, as will a proof of being fully vaccinated, a passenger declaration about travel history, and a day 0/1 test on arrival.
April 30, 2022
For non-Kiwi travellers, New Zealand's borders will reopen in stages from April 30, 2022 onwards.
The requirement to self-isolate and provide testing upon return will be assessed frequently, but it's expected this will be in place throughout May.
Despite those changes, the border won't be returning to exactly how it was before the pandemic for until at least later next year.
"This does not mean the end of MIQ as a system, which was always intended to be temporary at this scale and has served us incredibly well with more than 190,000 people brought home since our borders closed in March 2020," Hipkins said.
"There will continue to be a role for it in the foreseeable future."
Thus far, COVID-19 has killed 40 people in New Zealand and 5.16 million people globally.
