Border lockdown angers migrants as families pay price for Covid win

Foreign workers and families blocked from returning to New Zealand are wearing the cost of success against the coronavirus, the Washington Post writes.

Jeus Joaquin helped New Zealand beat back the coronavirus as the country’s confirmed cases gradually fell to zero in May.

During the 49-day lockdown, the 34-year-old emergency department nurse treated Covid-19 patients at Thames Hospital.

Essential workers like him were lauded as heroes as New Zealand’s international prestige soared. There has since been new cases reported.

But the win against the virus came at a cost, and Joaquin is among those paying it.

His wife and two toddlers are stuck in the Philippines, where the family is from. They are among an estimated 10,000 foreign workers and family members of citizens and permanent residents who are blocked from returning to New Zealand.

It’s now extremely difficult for anyone but citizens – and a few select foreigners – to get into New Zealand, despite the Government’s pledges to assist families locked out.

‘‘[Jeus] has lost lots of milestones with his son,’’ said 35-year-old Kristine Joaquin, who is a nurse like her husband, by phone from Manila.

She has a visa, but said New Zealand immigration services have nine times denied her applications for a travel exemption.

The border isn’t impassable for all.

The Government has provided special exemptions to the crew working on the sequel to the sci-fi film Avatar, along with their families, classified as ‘‘high-value workers’’ for ‘‘projects of national or regional significance’’ in the tourism-reliant country.

The American and British America’s Cup sailing teams have also been allowed in, as have their families, and in one case, a nanny – some 300 people in total.

‘‘I feel like New Zealand now has an iron curtain,’’ said Wendy

‘‘This Government is not a very popular government with the

migrant community at all and this really exacerbated that.’’

Alastair McClymont

Immigration lawyer

Harnett, 54, a New Zealand citizen whose husband is from Japan and who has been trying to enter the country since March, when offshore visa processing was suspended.

‘‘We did the lockdown. And, yes, we eliminated the virus. But no-one thought about what next,’’ Harnett told the Washington Post .

‘‘Well, you eliminate the virus and then you have a whole other set of problems.’’

New Zealand’s immigration officials estimated there were about 10,000 foreign workers – ranging from employees on farms to employers in big businesses – on temporary visas and locked out.

In the meantime, the country noted last week its largest quarterly economic contraction in 29 years, as it entered its first recession in nearly a decade.

These experiences, said immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont, show the flip side of policies that squashed the country’s outbreak and earned it the attention of the world.

‘‘This Government is not a very popular government with the migrant community at all and this really exacerbated that,’’ said McClymont, who has worked in the field for 25 years. ‘‘The migrant communities don’t really see our prime minister and Government in the same way as the rest of the world does.’’

Among those impacted are several thousand migrant workers from India who were back home on holiday when New Zealand suddenly shut, according to McClymont. Many of his clients are now without income as expenses accumulate.

As of June 16, there have been more than 16,500 requests for exemptions for foreigners to enter New Zealand and 2600 approvals, most for humanitarian reasons.

– Washington Post