12/06/20 - Major NZ border rules relaxed: Essential workers allowed in, so who qualifies?

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12/06/20 - Update Immigration New Zealand

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Please find herewith today's update from INZ.

09/06/20 - Changes to temporary work visas

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Please follow this link for an update.

09/06/20 - How live will change under COVID 10 Alert level 1

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Please foillow this link for further information

03/06/20 - What you can do in Level 1

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What you can do in Level 1

• Restrictions on businesses and services will be lifted.
• Rules governing hospitality outlets will be lifted.
• There will be no physical distancing rules, and limits on gatherings will be removed.
• Crowds will be allowed at sports matches and church services.
• Community sport can resume without restrictions.
• Physical distancing is no longer required on air travel or public transport.
• Border controls remain in place
• Increased hygiene is expected of all New Zealanders.
• Travel
  • Under level 1, Kiwis can still travel domestically and social distancing measures are removed for planes and public transport. But under the lower alert level the country's border restrictions remain. There's no date yet for when the border may potentially reopen.
  • The relaxing of measures at level 1 will allow for a greater capacity at attractions and on tours, and possibly the return of festivals and other events.

The Rules

The 10 rules Kiwis should adhere to when the country enters Covid-19 Alert Level 1. They're not 'rules' in the same way as level 4 lockdown rules, but general advice and guidance:

1. If you're sick, stay home. Don't go to work, school or socialise.
2. If you have cold or flu-like symptoms, call your doctor or healthline. Get tested.
3. Wash your hands.
4. Sneeze or cough into your elbow and regularly clean shared surfaces.
5. You must self-isolate if you're told by officials to do so.
6. Stay healthy, work with your GP if you have underlying health issues.
7. Keep digital diaries for contact tracing, keep track of where you've been.
8. Businesses help people track movements by displaying the QR code.
9. Stay vigilant.
10. Be kind to others and be kind to yourself.

(Source; Stuff )

01/06/20 - Immigration category's planned return scuttled by Covid-19

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After a wait of more than three years for a government decision on family migration, grandparents had a glimmer of hope - before the Covid-19 coronavirus snuffed it out again.

The parent category - granting residence to immigrants whose adult children already had residence - was restarted again in February after it was suspended in 2016.

But the government halted ballots to choose applicants in April, a month before the first one was due to take place, citing the pandemic crisis.

Forestry manager Megan Costello, an only child from Canada, lives with her New Zealand husband Andy Costello and their two daughters, Ivy and Zosia, aged eight and six, in Gisborne.

After last October's announcement that visa applications were re-opening, the family decided to buy the house next door to them for her parents, Shelagh and Jack Saprunoff.

"We were ecstatic," she said. "Because up until then, they were looking at six months visitor visas, and all of a sudden it was, 'they can move in next door'."

"We were quite hopeful because we meet the criteria and yes, there's four years of people on the waitlist ahead of you, but you sort of think all we need to do is get our place in the line and things should get through eventually.

"In terms of being transparent and fair and open it would just be good to know - to have a statement like 'we're suspending them but we fully intend to resume this visa programme' or, 'we'll revisit this in three months time' or something. But just to have 'it's indefinitely suspended', we're totally back into limbo.

"I honestly don't know when I'm going to get to see them again."

Professor Deborah Levy, who applied for her English mother Betty Mills, aged 86, to join her six months before the category closed in 2016, was awaiting the first ballot in May. She only found out it was not happening when contacted by RNZ.

"I feel totally blind-sided, distraught and disappointed," she said. "No communication from INZ, no explanation - just a bland undated webpage announcement, and once more from hope and possibility into another void."

Auckland University professor Deborah Levy with her husband Brian Bookman are hoping her mother Betty will be able to join them to live in New Zealand in the future.  

Her mother is "luckily stuck" in Auckland because she was visiting when the lockdown happened.

"With the world the way it is at the moment and reduced mobility, this may mean that once mum returns to the UK the reality is I may never see her again," she said.

"It's simply not got good enough. It's a betrayal of its citizens, and elder abuse. People's lives are in suspended limbo creating extreme stress, and more candidates eliminated, apart from natural attrition, through possible job loss of the sponsoring child."

There were almost 6,000 applications when the category re-opened in February, many waiting since before the category was suspended.

One in five applications have been withdrawn since February - many after finding new rules meant a couple would have to earn at least $212,160 a year to sponsor two parents.

A spokesperson for INZ said since February it had received an additional 1,209 expressions of interest (EOIs).

"The first EOI selection for the parent category under the new criteria was scheduled to take place in May 2020," she said. "This was deferred in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The Government continues to reassess when EOI selections can take place, however no decisions on this have been made."

(Source: RNZ, Gill Bonnet)

28/05/20 - Update COVID 19 related news

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For the latest update from INZ, click here 

25/05/20 - No quick return to New Zealand in sight for migrant workers stuck overseas, says Immigration Minister

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Migrants on work visas stranded overseas cannot expect to return to New Zealand any time soon, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees Galloway.

And even then, their continued employment in New Zealand and/or extensions of work visas their would depend on gaps in the local job market and workforce needs.

In an interview with Radio Tarana, Lees Galloway said there's "a lot of work that needs to be done" as far as opening up borders for those stuck overseas on work visas was concerned.

"We will absolutely be applying the labour market test to temporary work visas," Lees Galloway said.

"And obviously that labour market test is going to demonstrate that there are fewer gaps, fewer roles for migrant workers."

Lees Galloway said he was aware of the difficult situation those on work visas stranded overseas were finding themselves in.

"People will be considering if their visa has expired while they're offshore.

"They will be considering applying for a new visa to come back to New Zealand when the border restrictions are lifted, but that will be entirely dependent on whether or not they're able to find work where the labour market test demonstrates that there isn't a New Zealander available to take up that work.

"As much as we want to provide the support that we can, for some people the simple fact that there won't be a gap in the labour market, so there won't be a visa available for them in the future," Lees Galloway said.

Lees Galloway's advice for those migrants stuck overseas was to engage with their consulate or embassy if they needed to sort their affairs out back in New Zealand.

He said because of border closures in place, there was no way the government could help those wanting to come back to New Zealand even if it was just to sort their affairs out, pack their belongings so they could return to their home country.

"The closure of the border is absolutely central to our successful effort to suppressing the virus in New Zealand," Lees Galloway said.

"Whilst there are people coming into the country, we now have strict quarantine requirements and we can only quarantine about 250 people a day coming across the border so the capacity for us to allow people to come into New Zealand right now is significantly constrained."

Finance Minister Grant today announced a $570 million support package for those who had lost their job because of Covid-19, but it is still not clear whether the Covid Income Relief Payment includes support for migrant workers.

Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has been approached for comment.

(Source; Stuff, Arvind Kumar and Vandhna Bhan)

21/05/20 - Update COVID 19

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Please find herewith an update from INZ regarding processes and guidelines.

15/05/20 - Two great contributions from the New York Times

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Here are two great articles  from the New York Times;

• How Pandemics End
• Air Travel is going to be very bad, for a very long time

Enjoy .....