Your February Mobile Newsletter

IMMIGRATION & BORDER UPDATES

The Prime Minister gave a speech today outlining the next phase of self-isolation, border reopening, and immigration changes. This is the summary:

STEP ONE: From 11.59pm 27 February 2022 - Fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers coming from Australia may enter and self-isolate.
STEP TWO: From 11.59pm 13 March 2022 - Fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers coming from the rest of the world can self-isolate upon arrival. The immigration categories of people who may enter will expand to include more critical workers, skilled workers, and restart the working holiday visa.
STEP THREE: From 11.59pm 12 April 2022 - Fully vaccinated people in additional immigration categories are permitted to enter New Zealand, including 5000 international students, off-shore temporary visa holders, and additional critical workers.
STEP FOUR: Beginning no later than July 2022 - Fully vaccinated people from Australia and visa waiver countries may enter. Visa categories will begin to shift under the immigration rebalance policy with the skilled worker exemption phased out and the new Accredited Employer Work Visa categories replacing it.
STEP FIVE: From October 2022 - All visa categories reopen. Fully vaccinated arrivals may self-isolate with others going to MIQ.

Until these changes begin, the border remains closed with limited exceptions. Those who may enter are subject to testing and vaccination requirements and will spend 10 days in MIQ, which must be booked in advance.

For the Love of Sport

The return of the Olympics and Paralympics this month means an opportunity for New Zealand sporting pride to show through. This is a nation that loves sport in all its forms.

Love for sport is instilled from quite a young age with primary schools having physical education and healthy competition as significant parts of the curriculum. Children are typically taught to swim, play rugby and netball, and run cross country through formal school programming.

Outside of school, there are private race series that encourage children to develop physical and mental toughness alongside positive competition and cooperative action. These include the XRACE series, Obstacle Challenge (on hiatus due to Covid), and Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon series.

On the national level, Kiwis - at home and overseas - love to cheer on the All Blacks (men’s rugby), White Ferns (women’s cricket), All Whites (men’s football), and Black Caps (men’s cricket)...to name a few. In case you’re curious, you can see the whole list of national team names here.

As much as Kiwis love watching sport from afar, we also love hosting. Last summer we cheered Emirates Team New Zealand to a win in the America’s Cup sailing event hosted in Auckland. Aotearoa will also be host for this year’s Women’s Cricket World Cup while Australia and New Zealand will share hosting privileges for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

To give you an idea of how seriously Kiwis take sport, New Zealand's most decorated Paralympian was recently honoured as as Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Dame Sophie Pascoe is believed to be New Zealand's youngest Dame.

Pulse on NZ: Back-to-School

It’s back-to-school time with primary and secondary students returning to their studies during the first two weeks of February and university students following shortly after.

Across the country, parents are gathering uniforms (compulsory at many primary schools and most secondary schools) and stationary (school supplies) and preparing to shift from a leisurely summer to a more structured routine…for a few months at least.

The primary and secondary school year is divided into four terms with a two-week break between terms. The year will finish in mid-December.

Waitangi Day - 6 February

This weekend, we commemorate Waitangi Day.

Waitangi Day marks the first signing of New Zealand’s founding document: Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) on 6 February 1840. It is recognised as New Zealand’s national day, when the Partnership between Maori and the Crown was formalised.

In recent years, the style and mood of commemorating Waitangi Day have been influenced by a debate around the place of the Treaty in modern New Zealand. Official formal celebrations take place at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, and many cities and local iwi (tribe) also hold public festivals.