Today a staged immigration plan was released by the NZ government to begin on January 17th for NZ citizens and 'eligible' people in Australia, through to tourists allowed to travel on April 30th. Current regulations still seperate many families from reuniting and place them in the same category as 'tourists'. The definition of 'immediate family' in New Zealand currently varies vastly from those definitions overseas. It only includes 'partners' and 'dependent children' of NZ citizens and residents. 

My story is very similar to 100s of others stuck from reuniting with their loved ones. I am 39 weeks pregnant with my first child. I have lived in NZ for 8 years and my partner is a Kiwi. My parents had planned to move over to NZ from Australia in October 2021, are currently paying for a year tenancy on a property but under the current laws don't class as my 'immediate family'. My mental health has severely suffered from them not being here and even after explaining my situation to immigration they continue to be denied. It just isn't right that close families are still separated under New Zealand's current definition of 'immediate family', despite Australia and many other countries currently classing parents of adult children as 'immediate family'. 

After being part of a wonderful facebook group 'Travel bubble Australia and New Zealand and returning to Australia and New Zealand', I have seen that many share my situation and pain. This group currently has 11,000 members. No matter how old we get, we still need our parents. It simply isn't just that 1000s of families are still classified as 'tourists', despite wanting to relocate and/or get a much needed hug after two years of pain. There are hundreds of thousands of families that share citizenships particularly between Australia and New Zealand. This relationship was previously supported through laws allowing Australian citizens to move without requiring a visa for this exact reason. 

I propose that the current definition be expanded to partners, parents and children of New Zealand citizens and residents. Please help show your support to reunite more families in the initial stages of reentry into New Zealand.