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SYDNEY —New Zealand is reopening its international borders to vaccinated travelers from Australia Tuesday (11:59 UTC) after more than two years of COVID-19 isolation. New Zealand has had some of the world's toughest virus control measures. Also, New Zealand's agriculture minister Damien O'Connor said that starting Tuesday would be exemptions for some overseas farm workers to help ease labor shortages.
Under a staged reopening of its borders, Australian citizens and permanent residents along with some temporary workers and students from anywhere in the world are now allowed into New Zealand. They must have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccination and take a coronavirus test when they arrive.
Vaccinated visitors from visa-waiver countries, including the United States and Britain, will be permitted to travel to New Zealand on May 1.
Also starting Tuesday, exceptions are being made to boost the country's agricultural workforce.
They allow for more than 1,500 experienced overseas staff from the Philippines and other countries to travel to New Zealand for jobs in the dairy, meat processing and forestry sectors.
Chris Lewis, a spokesperson for the Federated Farmers organization, a farmer advocacy group told Radio New Zealand that the changes will help livestock producers when the calving season begins in July.
"It is a welcome announcement. We have been advocating for this for a long, long time, asking for more international staff. So, yes, we are very pleased, but we have just got to get them in before calving starts. That is the key for us," he said.
New Zealand shut its international borders in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread.
The country has remained closed, except for a short-lived travel bubble that allowed travel between Australia and New Zealand started in April 2021, but was suspended in July 2021 because of the spread of the delta variant.
Health experts say tough coronavirus measures, including strict lockdowns, have helped to keep infections and fatalities low.
But the omicron variant has been rampant, the authorities have conceded that it's time to dismantle New Zealand's so-called COVID-19 fortress. The government in Wellington expects international borders to be fully reopened to all travelers in October.
New Zealand has recorded about 500 deaths and 786,000 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, according to official government data.