Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin
Major changes for Pacific Islanders applying for New Zealand visitor visas have been announced but opposition MPs say more needs to be done.
From July, visitors from Pacific Islands Forum countries who apply for a visitor visa to New Zealand may be eligible for a multi-entry visa, allowing them to visit Aotearoa as many times as they want for 24 months.
Also, in a year-long trial from November, Pacific passport holders travelling from Australia with an Australian visa - work, student or family - would be able to visit New Zealand for up to three months.
Travellers would still need to complete a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) to get into the country.
NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters, while in Nuku'alofa for his first stop on a week-long Pacific tour, said Pacific nationals would soon be able to have a total stay of nine months in an 18-month period, while normal settings grant a total of six months in a 12-month period.
"Now as we say all around the Pacific when it comes to our cousins, stick to the law when you get to our country and don't overstay," Peters said during a press conference with Tonga's Prime Minister Dr 'Aisake Valu Eke.
Tonga's Prime Minister welcomed the announcement and said he believes there is more to come.
"I think this is the beginning, the beginning of their response on that particular issue and so we are expecting some further expansions of that strategy," he said.
"I welcome the announcement and I think that there will be some more in the future."
The free movement of people in the region has been a frequent request made by Pacific leaders in recent years, including from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Peters said full visa-free travel might be granted in the future but at present it would be too costly to implement.
"It all looks fantastic until you get in front of the minister of finance or the minister in charge of customs and all the ministers responsible and you find what the cost of administration is, it's quite huge."
New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his cross-party delegation made their first stop on a week-long Pacific tour in Tonga on Friday. April 2025 Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Grace Fiava'ai
More than 60 countries currently visa waiver status, and New Zealand's Green Party has been pushing the government to include Pacific nations on the list.
The party's foreign affairs spokesperson Teanau Tuiono, who is with Peters on the trip, said the geo-political landscape had changed.
He said China is becoming more dominant in the region and New Zealand needs to demonstrate its part of the Pacific family.
"You've got all these other countries, you've got UK, the USA, you've got Mexico, you've got Israel, you've got all these other countries, how is it not expensive for them but too expensive for the Pacific."
Tuiono said the Greens also wanted Pacific visa-free travel in the last Labour-led parliament.
New Zealand's Labour deputy leader, Carmel Sepuloni, who is also on the trip, said more needed to be done to Pacific visa settings and Labour would explore options.
"I think that they are good first steps but there has been an ask and a desire to see an opening up of the borders and to see changes to visa requirements for Pacific countries for quite some time."
Immigration advisor June Ranson said the big change was New Zealand allowing visa-free travel for those with an Australian visa from November.
"It looks clearly that New Zealand immigration is relying on Australia to access the risks of these people," she said.
"It's a good idea to give it as a trial because there's been a lot of conversation about these Pacific Islands people being disadvantaged and I know one of the concerns is they don't have enough of an incentive to go home."
Peters and his cross-party delegation leave for Hawai'i on Saturday.
