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New Zealand open borders for international travellers
The reopening of borders will allow international students, and tourists, including those non-visa waiver countries to enter. Prime Minister Jacinda Arden described it as an “enormous moment” while adding that it has been a ‘staged and cautious process’.While there are no quarantine requirements, but visitors will still need to provide proof of vaccination to enter the country.
The maritime border is also now open, and eligible travelers can enter New Zealand by sea. Visa waiver travelers and work, working holiday, visitor and student visa holders can leave and return to New Zealand if their visa conditions allows for it.
It had started welcoming tourists in May, from more than 50 countries on the visa-waiver list, including major tourism markets such as the UK, US, Germany, Japan and South Korea.
“We, alongside the rest of the world, continue to manage a very live global pandemic, while keeping our people safe,” said Ardern in a speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland. “But keeping people safe extends to incomes and wellbeing too.”
At the beginning of 2022, stakeholders highlighted concerns around visa processing causing uncertainty for returning students. But, along with borders reopening, visa processing has now fully resumed. International students used to bring in around USD 5 billion per year, making it New Zealand’s fourth largest export earner, but that figure dropped significantly in 2021.
Grant McPherson, Chief Executive, Education New Zealand, said in an open letter to the sector, “everything we have done - to support each other, support students, establish new initiatives, sustain and build new relationships in our partner countries, keep the New Zealand brand alive, and much more - all this work means that we are now able to focus on rebuilding the international education sector.”
“While we’ve continued to support the sector with border exceptions through the pandemic, the full resumption of visa processing is great news for our universities, polytechnics and wānanga, and schools, English language schools, and private training establishments,” he added.
Sourec : Travel World
