New Zealand border restrictions amidst COVID-19 and their impacts on temporary migrant workers

ABSTRACT

In September 2021, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) announced the offer of a one-off residence visa category - the 2021 Resident Visa, to over 165,000 temporary migrant workers and their family members living in the country. The offer was a response to the backlog and growing numbers of applications that INZ was unable to attend to largely because of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on relevant statistical data, news media reports and available academic publications, this research note examines how New Zealand's sanitization policies during the pandemic affected the lives of temporary migrant workers who hold various work visas.