Dad’s dismay as many jump queue to NZ
David McCormick missed his daughter’s birth, then her first tooth, first smile and first time she crawled. Any day now, he will miss her first steps.
But he won’t – touch wood – miss her first birthday, which is May 23, the day Aila and McCormick’s Japanese wife, Misumi, get out of managed isolation and the baby he has only seen on video calls and photographs will be in New Zealand for real.
As McCormick tried to reunite with his family, he watched from Auckland as an Avatar film crew got into New Zealand, followed by other film workers, then movie star Kirsten Dunst’s nanny, then The Wiggles, then more than 1000 foreigners tied to the America’s Cup.
With Covid-19 sweeping around the globe, New Zealand has earned the world’s envy for its low rates of the virus. The borders have become the defence frontline – a point made when border workers were first in line for Covid-19 vaccination – but strict border rules have meant months-long waits for New Zealanders wanting to get home.
A managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) spokeswoman yesterday confirmed foreigners coming into New Zealand – deemed ‘‘other critical workers’’ – had to pay higher costs that more accurately reflected the real cost of MIQ. The cost for an ‘‘other critical worker’’ was $5520 compared with $3100 for a New Zealander returning for fewer than 90 days.
But to McCormick, serving out a three-month wait for an MIQ spot for his wife and daughter, the ‘‘thousands’’ of non-New Zealanders allowed in were slowing things for families like his, who were trying to reunite.
‘‘It is shameful that the Government has abandoned the core principle of our society, the wha¯nau family over the corporate cash machine,’’ he said.
The couple were married in Auckland on January 21, 2020. Misumi, from Japan and in New Zealand on a visitor’s visa, returned to Japan for the birth of their baby.
McCormick was due to follow her there but, as Covid-19 spread around the world, his flight was cancelled.
Aila was born on May 23. McCormick heard Misumi was going into labour via video call then
had to wait expectantly for the call afterwards saying a little girl had been born.
McCormick looked at flying over to Japan, then flying back with them, meaning they would have been allowed in but the cost was prohibitive and there was a chance of becoming trapped in Japan.
It took him months to get Aila New Zealand residency and for Misumi to get a visa to be allowed to travel to New Zealand.
That paperwork came through
in February and McCormick started looking for an MIQ spot that matched a viable date for travel – that was three months later, in May.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi on Friday said the Government had allowed a ‘‘small number of critical workers’’ in to the country but the vast majority – 78 per cent of those coming through the border – were New Zealand citizens and residents.
Many of the others were foreign partners of New Zealanders, he said.
‘‘The sponsors and owners that have been approved are considered an integral part of the America’s Cup teams. The bar is deliberately high for these requests. Without allowing for these types of border exceptions, New Zealand would miss out on significant benefits to our economy.’’