The government of New Zealand has set out a three-step plan to reopen its borders for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2022, with foreign visitors to be welcomed back from April.

From 2359 local time on 16 January 2022, New Zealand will allow fully vaccinated citizens, residence-class visa holders and other eligible travellers to enter the country from Australia without the need to enter managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ), provided they have not travelled to a third country within the 14 days prior to arrival in New Zealand. However, arrivals will still have to isolate for seven days.

Travellers will be required to provide proof of vaccination, a negative pre-departure Covid-19 test and a passenger declaration of travel. On arrival, they will have to self-isolate for seven days and take a Covid-19 test on day zero or one. A final negative test result will be required on day seven to be allowed to leave isolation.

Flag carrier Air New Zealand has already announced that it will make vaccination mandatory to board all international flights from February 2022.

Then, from 2359 on 13 February 2022, fully vaccinated New Zealand citizens, residents and visa holders will be allowed to enter from ¡°all but very high-risk countries¡±, according to the government.

Finally, from 30 April, the country plans to begin allowing fully vaccinated foreign nationals to enter, though the government said this could be staged by visa category.

New Zealand has had some of the toughest travel restrictions in the world alongside Australia, which is already in the process of reopening its borders. Since March 2020, foreign travellers have only been allowed in under extremely limited circumstances, such as for compassionate reasons, while citizens and residents have been subject to the government-managed MIQ, which is currently seven days followed by three days of self-isolation at home.

The news comes as the country prepares to move to a traffic light system for restrictions from 3 December, with green meaning Covid-19 transmission in the community is limited and there are no restrictions. Orange will mean cases are rising and public spaces and retail stores will be subject to capacity limits to allow for social distancing, while red will mean action is needed to bring case levels down and regional boundaries may be needed to contain local outbreaks.

The city of Auckland, which is currently essentially isolated from the rest of the nation, will have some border restrictions eased from 15 December to 17 January. Residents will be able to leave the area so long as they are fully vaccinated or test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of travel.

In a statement, the government said: ¡°Closing our border was one of the first steps we took to keep our country safe from Covid-19 and it¡¯ll be the last thing we open up, following our transition into the traffic light system and lifting of the Auckland boundary.

¡°We are making this announcement to give families, businesses, visitors and airline and airport companies certainty and time to prepare. It¡¯s very encouraging that as a country we are now in a position to move towards greater normality.

¡°We always said we¡¯d open in a controlled way, and this started with halving the time spent in MIQ to seven days. Retaining a seven-day isolate at home period for fully vaccinated travellers is an important phase in the reconnecting strategy to provide continued safety assurance. These settings will continue to be reviewed against the risk posed by travellers entering New Zealand.¡±

The government said further details on how the self-isolation period will be implemented will be released in December, including guidance on how travellers can transit from the airport to their location and the requirements for the places they can complete their isolation.

There are plans to roll out a digital traveller health declaration system towards the end of March 2022 to help airlines implement checks of passengers¡¯ compliance with travel requirements.