Earlier today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that fully vaccinated Australians will be able to travel to New Zealand from 11:59pm on Tuesday April 12, without having to isolate or quarantine on arrival. Instead, travellers will need to have a pre-departure test, as well as take two rapid antigen tests during their visit.
“Closing our border was one of the first actions we took to stop COVID-19 two years ago. It did the job we needed. But now that we’re highly vaccinated and predicted to be off our Omicron peak, it’s now safe to open up,” said Jacinda Ardern.
New Zealand Borders Reopening
New Zealand will be open for fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents from April 12. This change has pushed forward the reopening timeline, which originally saw all Aussies returning to the country in July.
“Apart from three months of quarantine-free travel in 2021 when around 160,000 Australians came here, we have missed our Aussie visitors,” said Tourism Minister Stuart Nash. “We cannot wait to have our mates back. Bringing forward the date will accelerate our economic recovery.”
Before the pandemic, about 40 per cent of travellers to New Zealand were from Australia. 71 per cent of international arrivals who skied were also Australian.
“Reopening in time for the upcoming Australian school holidays will help spur our economic recovery in the short term and is good news for the winter ski season,” Ardern said.
Meanwhile, from 11:59pm on Sunday May 1, vaccinated travellers with valid visitor visas, or from visa-waiver countries like the UK, US, Japan, Germany, Korea and Singapore will be able to arrive.
For more information about the New Zealand borders timeline, click here.