New Zealand officials have announced that the country will reopen its borders in the coming weeks.

The process, though, isn’t planned to be completed until October at the earliest.

As the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spread over the world, earlier intentions to reopen the country were scrapped.

Borders have been shut for over two years in reaction to the pandemic, with the exception of a brief travel bubble with Australia.

“With our community better protected we must turn to the importance of reconnection,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern added.

“Families and friends need to reunite. Our businesses need skills to grow.

“Exporters need to travel to make new connections.”

Vaccinated New Zealand citizens and visa holders from Australia will be the first to cross the border, followed by those traveling from the rest of the world, and eventually all other vaccinated tourists.

Travellers will still be required to self-isolate for ten days at home, but they will no longer be required to pass through space-limited managed isolation facilities (MIQ).

From February 27th, fully vaccinated New Zealanders and other qualified Australian travellers will be allowed to enter New Zealand without having to stay in MIQ.

They can arrive from any country two weeks later.

From this date forward, critical employees and skilled workers will be able to enter New Zealand.

The working holiday scheme will also be reinstated.

The two-week interval, Ardern said, will allow public health systems to prepare for the possibility of more cases in the community, and border systems to “keep scaling up in the safest way possible.”

5,000 international students and other temporary visa holders will be allowed to enter starting in April.

Following that, the border will be accessible to Australians and other visitors who do not need a visa to enter New Zealand.

From October, all other overseas visitors will be able to enter New Zealand.

– India’s new age travel digital media