Border rethink will allow some families to reunite

The Government will widen its border exemption regime in a bid to allow hundreds of families, separated by Covid-19, to reunite in New Zealand.

Although the new rules will allow “hundreds” of people to be reunited, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said there would still be “thousands” who the exemptions will not apply to.

The new rules apply to the family of critical health workers with families still overseas, as well as a “small number” of other highly skilled workers. A new exemption is also being created for the families of temporary visa holders, who had a visa to come to New Zealand but had not arrived before the border closed last year.

To be eligible for these new rules, the family member currently in New Zealand must have more than 12 months remaining on their visa. They can begin applying for the exemption from April 30.

National’s immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford said the announcement was “long overdue relief” for split migrant families. But she said it was a shame the Government only acted after intense and sustained pressure from the Opposition, the media and split migrant family advocates.

Faafoi said this was not why the Government moved and officials had been working on this policy for some time.

Asked why it took so long, given families were raising these issues in June last year, he said: “It’s about getting the balance right. We have to balance the capacity of managed isolation and the health risk of allowing a relatively large number of people to come in from overseas.”