Tonga will be on New Zealand’s one-way quarantine-free travel list along with Samoa, Vanuatu and Tokelau starting on November 8, but only for people who have the right to reside permanently in New Zealand as well as people covered by border exceptions.

In a statement released today, NZ Minister for COVID-19 Response Hon Chris Hipkins said travellers must be fully vaccinated, unless they are New Zealand citizens.

“RSE workers are currently required to have at least one dose, and will be required to be fully vaccinated from 1 January 2022.”

Due to the low risk in these countries, travellers will not need to provide a negative test before leaving or isolate on arrival in New Zealand, he said.

Meanwhile standard quarantine-free travel (QFT) requirements remain in place. Passengers are required to confirm they meet health and eligibility requirements, and to complete Nau Mai Ra. The full list of requirements will be on the Unite Against COVID-19 [2] website. 

“I thank the governments of these countries for their cooperation, which has led to us reaching this positive step in reconnecting our people, and the horticulture industry for the initial successful trial of QFT with Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.”

The existing quarantine free travel arrangements with the Cook Islands and Niue will be maintained.

NZ to ease border restrictions

New Zealand also plans to ease border restrictions in stages for vaccinated overseas arrivals.

From November 14, New Zealand will reduce time overseas arrivals spend in MIQ facility to seven days, followed by home isolation until they return a negative day 9 test.

“Advice is this is the lowest risk change as the vast majority of border cases we pick up within the first seven days,” said Mr Hipkins.

“When MIQ was introduced we didn’t have the vaccine so every arrival posed a high level of risk. With most people returning now fully vaccinated the risk profile of international arrivals has changed so it is time to start changing our MIQ settings.”

“The vast majority of COVID-19 cases are picked up within the first three days of MIQ. Positive cases from border arrivals are increasingly rare, at 2 or 3 per 1000, and there’s a 1 in 2000 rate of positive test results in MIQ after day seven. In addition, full vaccination will be required for all non-New Zealand travellers from 1 November.”

New Zealand's second stage is to move towards having more vaccinated people able to self-isolate at home instead of in MIQ.

“This option will be made available to increasing numbers of fully vaccinated travellers in the first quarter of 2022. However, our priority at this stage is to safely transition to the new traffic light system first and bed that in before adding the additional risk of international arrivals immediately entering the community.”

“Fees, exemption and exception frameworks and isolate at home guidelines will be updated during the next three weeks. From 14 November, the self-isolation period for business travellers in the pilot will also be shortened to 10 days.”