Notice Type
Departmental
Notice Title

Special Direction—Waiver of the Requirement for a Transit Visa to Travel to and be in New Zealand as a Transit Passenger During COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

This special direction is made to support repatriation and to manage the effects, or deal with the consequences, of the outbreak of COVID-19. The special direction will allow a citizen of any country who is not a person to whom a transit visa waiver applies, travelling from certain Pacific countries, to travel to and be in New Zealand as a transit passenger on the way back to their home country.

Pursuant to section 86(4)(a) of the Immigration Act 2009, by special direction, the following persons are classified as persons to whom a transit visa waiver to travel to and be in New Zealand applies.

Any person who is to travel to and be in New Zealand as a transit passenger only, and:

  1. who is a citizen of a country which is not listed in Schedule 1 of the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010; and
  2. the country in which they are located immediately before travelling to New Zealand (whether it is their original or intermediate point of departure) is one of the following Pacific countries or territories: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Mariana Islands, New Caledonia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu or Vanuatu; and
  3. whose immediate destination after transiting through New Zealand is either;

    3.1 the country of which they are a citizen of; or

    3.2 any third party countries in which they are transiting after New Zealand to allow their onward travel to support their repatriation into the country of which they are a citizen of.

This special direction expires three months following the day on which it was made unless cancelled earlier.

Dated this 19th day of June 2020.

Hon IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY, Minister of Immigration.