Get INFORMED 

Find stories, news articles, and other relevant information about the impacts of the MIQ system and New Zealand's border policy on Kiwis' right to return. This page will continue to be updated with new material. 

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Grounded Kiwis in the news

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• Expats 'dismayed' by lack of action on MIQ availability

• Many desperate to return to NZ ignored in govt border news

• Grounded Kiwis disheartened by border news

• Chief Ombudsman to investigate MIQ booking system after complaints from stranded Kiwis who can't get home

• ‘Heart-breaking and legally wrong’ say seafarers trapped overseas

• Grounded Kiwis - group forms to launch petition 

• Call for MIQ booking system reform - 'The government just doesn't get it'

• Human Rights Commission receives 30 complaints about MIQ booking

 

MIQ personal stories

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• MIQ Stories - Collection of stories of Kiwis struggling to get home

• 11yo cancer patient who flew to US for treatment refused emergency MIQ spot

• Family desperate to bring 92-year-old dad home to be 'loved for last time on this planet'

• Lives in limbo: Families at breaking point over soldiers' unending MIQ service

• Demand for MIQ rooms triples since April, 'forcing' Kiwis to break laws by overstaying

• Stranded Kiwis frustrated by 'impossible' MIQ system

• Free-for-all MIQ booking process is 'madness' - NZ couple

• Bots and scalpers: desperate Kiwis try everything to get into Fortress New Zealand

• Family suffer health crisis as British parents blocked from getting MIQ room

• Woman sheds tears of relief after being granted MIQ spot following life-changing surgery

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Analysing problems with MIQ

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• After a year of MIQ the complaints mount up – it’s time for a watchdog to step in

• 'No escape from NZ' says reservation system expert Reservation system expert 

• Software developer's ideas to improve 'cruel' MIQ booking system

• The MIQ booking system is unfair and inefficient. There are ways to fix it.

• MIQ booking system nightmare preventing Kiwis from coming home.

• Would you cheat to get home to New Zealand? 

• Unfair booking system could be breaching law says professor 

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Formal complaints about MIQ booking problems

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• Chief Ombudsman to investigate MIQ booking system after complaints from stranded Kiwis who can't get home

• Human Rights Commission receives 30 complaints about MIQ booking

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Government response to MIQ booking problems

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• Couple say MIQ vouchers wrongly cancelled in crackdown – but MBIE is ghosting them

• Govt exploring ways to improve MIQ booking system - Jacinda Ardern

• Govt looking at notifying people before MIQ spaces are released​

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Border policy and roadmap

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• Government one-page table “Reconnecting New Zealanders to the world:  Next steps”

• Government statement on reconnecting New Zealanders to the world 

• Prime Minister’s speech on reconnecting New Zealanders to the world

• Skegg report

• Government’s MIQ allocations for its own projects and policies

• Australians in transit

• Expo 2020 MIQ allocation

• Seasonal workers' one-way travel bubble

• Oil rig workers request an MIQ quota

• Business trips are needed to maintain New Zealand’s economic growth

• Wallabies’ exemption from MIQ

• Tourism industry faces a long recovery 

• Offshore New Zealanders key in post-pandemic recovery

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Alternative border controls

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• Hopes for a less strict MIQ system as vaccine rolls out across NZ - Professor Michael Baker

• Professor Michael Baker calls for urgent research on reducing or eliminating MIQ time

• Professor Des Gorman advocates alternative methods for low-risk travellers, such as home isolation