I'll update here with a summary of any announcements made by INZ in relation to the impact of the Covid-19 situation, as and when INZ make them. Please keep in mind that this is a developing situation and there are many aspects of the impact of the pandemic that INZ have not made decisions on yet - but Cabinet and INZ are working together on a daily basis to manage and establish strategies for this unprecedented situation going forward, so there will no doubt be many more announcements made as this crisis rolls on:
1. The border is effectively closed to all but NZ citizens and residents.
2. There is an application process available for requesting travel to NZ if you are not an NZ citizen or resident but you do have a critical purpose for travel to NZ - that is, if you have humanitarian reasons (ie. you usually reside here & not being able to return at the moment would negatively impact you) or you are an Essential Health worker with a current offer of employment in NZ.
3. All temp visas held by onshore workers, students and visitors that were due to expire between 2 April and 9 July have now been automatically extended until 25 September 2020.
4. If your temp visa expired before 2 April and you did not apply for a new visa before then, you can email your details and an explanation of why you did not apply for a new visa to s61@mbie.govt.nz and INZ will decide if a new visa can be granted to you.
5. Student visa holders currently working in healthcare roles are now allowed to work for more than 20 hours per week for up to 3 months.
6. Low-skilled work visa holders currently working in healthcare roles can work for an additional 12 months before they will be subject to the stand-down period (after they have worked in NZ for 3 years).
7. Up to 25 April, those visa holders working in a supermarket are allowed to work in a supermarket role different to that which is stated on their visa. And Student visa holders working in a supermarket are allowed to work more than 20 hours per week in a supermarket.
8. INZ offices are all closed, but it is possible to lodge new visa applications online and INZ will begin processing them when they are open again after lockdown. Paper applications will not be lodged by INZ until after lockdown - and it's not really possible to get them to INZ at the moment anyway, due to mail services not being easy to access.