New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Wednesday morning (11) its plan to fully reopen their borders from 11:59pm on July 31 by reinstating the ability to apply for visas to citizens from all over the world.
This will apply, as can be seen on the New Zealand government’s official website, to all visa categories, including visitors and students from anywhere in the world, although they will have to prove they have been fully vaccinated and take a pre-departure test (the vaccination does not apply to NZ citizens or residents or to children aged 16 years and under).
The vaccines approved by New Zealand are 35 and include the most popular ones such as Moderna, Pfizer, Sinopharm, Sputnik and Janssen (the full list can be found at this link).
Currently entry to New Zealand is allowed only for New Zealand citizens, resident or visa-holding foreign nationals, as well as their partners or children. Also Australian citizens and those who already hold working holiday, work, study, visitor or transit visas, have a specific reason to travel that qualifies them as an exception, or those included in the NZeTA visa waiver programme (such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, United States and Spain).
Starting May 16, New Zealand will once again allow visa applicants from around 20 Pacific Island nations to apply for visas in advance of the full opening on July 31.
Latin America and the Caribbean are currently connected to New Zealand by LATAM Airlines, which operates three flights a week between Santiago de Chile and Auckland, which were resumed at the end of March.
In North America, Air New Zealand operates a daily flight between Auckland and Los Angeles, and three weekly flights from Auckland to San Francisco and Vancouver. No plans to resume flights to Buenos Aires have been unveiled at this stage, although it has been rumoured that the Argentine capital could be replaced by Santiago, Chile.
