New Zealand To Not Allow Foreign Visitors Until October

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a five-step plan to reconnect New Zealand to the rest of the world after almost 2 years of Covid restrictions.

New Zealand will not fully reopen its borders until October, as it cautiously dismantles some of the world's toughest pandemic border restrictions, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Thursday.

Ardern announced a five-step plan to reconnect New Zealand to the rest of the world, beginning with waiving hotel quarantine requirements for Kiwis stranded overseas by the pandemic.

She said New Zealanders in Australia could return home and self-isolate, rather than going into quarantine, from February 27, followed two weeks later by Kiwis elsewhere in the world.

The border quarantine regime will then be progressively relaxed to allow in other groups such as skilled migrants, international students, Australians and then all vaccinated foreign nationals.