Ryan Anderson/Stuff
The scene at Auckland Airport’s international arrivals area, just after the border rules eased further.
Students and tourists flocked to apply for visas on the day the last border restrictions were lifted.
Immigration numbers show a 73% increase on pre-Covid-19 figures.
The last border reopening phase began at midnight on August 1, and more than 3559 people applied for visas on the opening day.
Until now, only people from countries that did not need visas to travel here had arrived.
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On Monday, almost 3000 visitors from other countries started the visa application process.
The number of student applications were double that of a similar time in 2019, while visitor visas jumped by more than 70%.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has said it is committed to processing straightforward visitor visas within 20 working days.
“New Zealand’s border has fully reopened, with people now able to apply for student and visitor visas as of Sunday, July 31, at 11:59pm,” INZ border and visa operations general manager Nicola Hogg said.
“On August 1, 2022, INZ received 2863 visitor visa applications and 696 student visa applications.
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff
Auckland Airport is ready to welcome back visitors.
“For comparison, over a two-week period in 2019 around this time of year, the average number of applications INZ received was 1657 visitor visa applications and 350 student visa applications.”
INZ said the numbers of people applying on Monday to reunite with family were not readily available.
Immigration adviser Katy Armstrong said partnership applications opened on July 4, the same date as work visas, but an online poll on Monday showed only four of 74 had been granted so far.
A further 28 people had applied before August 2020 for visas and were still waiting.
She said split families had been left to the end of priorities in reopening the border, and while some partners and children had been allowed in under other policies, she still had dozens of clients waiting to see their families.
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