The sound of thousands of tourism operators breathing a sigh of relief in unison was heard around the country on Wednesday morning, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed expedited border openings will allow tourists back into the country starting next month.

The sound would have been particularly loud in areas like central Otago, where confirmation of Australians’ ability to return before the beginning of the ski season is renewing?hope of economic resurrection.

The new three-stage opening means full-vaccinated travellers from Australia will be able to come in without any need for self-isolation from April 13, with travellers from visa waiver countries able to enter from May 2.

It’s the third step that has left advocates for migrant communities and split families unsatisfied. For non-visa waiver countries, the date of entry remains a mystery, with earlier announcements putting it some time in October but suggesting it may be shifted forward.

For Andrew Ford, co-founder of ＆Parents are Family, Too’, a group calling for the Government expanding the definition of immediate family to include parents and accordingly reunite thousands of split families, the announcement was a mixed bag.

※On one side of the coin it’s great if your family or parents are based in Australia,§ he said. ※But if your family are in a non-visa waiver country like India or South Africa, then you are still somehow having to wait until October, and you don’t even have a firm date in October.§

He said it’s devastating for those families, and there’s a huge number of people in that camp. Indeed, non-visa waiver countries are common points of origin for immigrant families in New Zealand, with places like India, China and the Philippines on the list.

※It feels like it’s discrimination, to be honest,§ said Ford. ※We haven’t heard a reasonable answer from the Government as to why the reopening is being done in such a phased manner.§

Tourists can return, but many split migrant families remain in the waiting room. A member of the press asked Ardern on Wednesday morning if this sat?comfortably with her, to which she responded that the date would?be reviewed and potentially brought forward in time.

※When it comes to those who are from non-visa waiver countries who may be seeking the ability to travel, we will be reviewing whether or not we can bring forward some of those dates also,§ she said.

But while in the past non-visa waiver countries like India were barred from entry due to high rates of Covid-19, Ardern said the current delay in open borders for them has more to do with the capacity of Immigration New Zealand.

※The main issue there is not an issue of safety, but an issue of the ability to process those new visas in a timely way,§ she said. ※Keeping in mind we are already dealing with a large number of people who are already being made residents through recent decisions and gearing back up a lot of visa processing.§

But without the safety risks of higher rates of Covid in certain non-visa waiver countries, the separation of the nations of the world into these two categories becomes harder to explain.

Travellers from visa waiver countries don’t need to apply for a visa if they are in good health and of good character, although they do need to show they have enough money for their stay and a travel ticket out of New Zealand.

Visa waiver countries include the United Kingdom, the United States, much of Europe, and countries as far-flung and various as Japan, Israel, Chile, Mexico and Malaysia.

Split families from these countries can hope for a reunion in the next month or two - although Ford said they will believe it when?they see it.

※There’s a large portion of the group feeling like we won’t really celebrate until we actually see it, due to the chopping and changing that’s happened in the past,§ he said.

Early leaks of the announcement got the group thinking most of them would be reunited within a month or two, but as Ford put?it, ※the devil is in the detail§.

※The rough timetable made it look like it would be most people allowed in from the start of April,§ he said. ※But now it transpires that it’s only Australian citizens from the middle of April and everybody else has got to wait until May or even October - that has really taken the shine off of it.§

So ＆Parents are Family, Too’ aren’t having any victory parties until everybody in the group has been seen to.

※There’s so many in our group that are still in the same dreadful position that they were in yesterday,§ Ford said.

The announcement spent little time talking about separated families, focusing instead on the return of tourists.

※It sort of adds insult to injury that all of the language coming from the Government is about tourists, and that they can come in,§ Ford said. ※That’s great, but why not acknowledge that the first people off the plane are almost certainly going to be parents and grandparents of New Zealand citizens and residents.§

Ardern did mention tourism may take some time to tick up, and the first people getting on planes were likely to be family members. However, no news on distant October doesn’t feel like acknowledgement for people in Ford’s group.

Immigration adviser Katy Armstrong said the announcement left a number of problems unaddressed.

※Working holidays and tourists before families again,§ she said. In addition, the announcement gave ※no respite§ to general visitor visa partners of Kiwis or partners of workers from non-visa waiver countries, with other groups such as partners of students and parents stuck overseas still left wanting.

On top of this, letters from Immigration New Zealand have gone out threatening to decline partnership applicants if they are unable to meet living together requirements.