Dear Kris Faafoi,

Request information on the following at the earliest.

1. Are you please able to substantiate the reasons and documentation which led to stipulating the dates of a work visa holder who had left NZ between 1st December 2019-9th October 2020 to apply for a Request to Travel?
2. When is the next update of the above dates to occur as it has already been 9 months? If not why are the dates not to be extended such that a worker who had left NZ after 9th October 2020 and still working in the same job can apply to come back home.
3. Is immigration aware of the number of people still remotely working for their NZ organisations while the borders are still closed for them to come back? Are you able to provide the numbers of such workers?
4. For any workers who are currently working remotely for their accredited employer with a Work to Residence work visa and are not able to return due the stipulated dates above, what are their options of coming back home?
5. For any workers who are currently working remotely for their accredited employer, who have applied for their residency and are not able to return due the stipulated dates above, what are their options of coming back home?
6. With MIQs full until November 2021 and any policy change of extending the aforementioned dates in pt1. above will still not give the workers enough time to come back home, then should the work visas not be extended since they are still working in the same job and paying taxes?

Yours faithfully,
Layeeq Baig