Yesterday marked 1 year since the New Zealand border reopened, reconnecting New Zealand with the rest of the world. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) have approved more than 1.6 million people to visit, work, or study in New Zealand since the border fully reopened.

It has been a huge task to reopen the border and New Zealand saw a large number of migrants wanting to travel to New Zealand once the borders reopened.

Reopening the border was an important milestone for New Zealand, and allowed us to welcome tourists back into the country to support the tourism and hospitality sector, it also helped employers get the workers they need to fill crucial skill shortages, and ultimately helped to grow New Zealand’s economy.

The border reopened in stages, and the following provides a snapshot of the numbers to date:

• Since 13 March 2022 when Working Holiday Scheme (WHS) applications opened, INZ have approved 65,056 WHS applications.
• Since 2 May 2022 when New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) applications opened, INZ have issued 1,517,930 NZeTAs.
• Since 4 July 2022 when the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme opened, INZ have approved 76,615 AEWV applications.
• Since 31 July 2022 when Visitor Visa applications opened, INZ have approved 339,218 Visitor Visa applications.
• Since 31 July 2022 when Student Visa applications opened, INZ have approved 74,141 Student Visa applications.

It is positive to see that a year on from the border reopening, we continue to see strong demand from migrants wanting to travel to New Zealand.