About 5000 people have become residents under a fast-track Government scheme launched last month.
An estimated 165,000 people will become residents altogether, many by the end of the year. Michelle Shaw, who works in a Christchurch vaccination centre, together with her husband Mic and two children were in the first phase of applications.
Shaw told our reporter Gill Bonnett the news didn't sink in when they first heard they'd been approved, but the visas are now official.
