NZ border opens and processing for visas resumes

新西兰边境开放，签证处理恢复

The international education sector in New Zealand breathed a collective sigh of relief as the borders fully reopened, with many prepared for a tough few years ahead.

随着边境全面重新开放，新西兰的国际教育部门集体松了一口气，工作人员已为未来几年的艰难工作做好了准备。

New Zealand reopened its borders to international travellers at midnight on 31 July 2022, allowing international students and tourists, including from non-visa waiver countries, to enter the country in what prime minister Jacinda Ardern described as an “enormous moment”. She added that it had been “a staged and cautious process”.

新西兰于2022年7月31日凌晨向国际旅客重新开放边境，允许国际学生和游客（包括来自非免签证国家的学生和游客）进入该国。新西兰总理杰辛达·阿德恩称这是一个“重大时刻”。她补充说道，这是一个“阶段性审慎的过程”。

Most visitors will need to provide proof of vaccination to enter the country. There are no longer any quarantine requirements, however.

大多数游客需要提供疫苗接种证明才能入境。但是，将不再会有任何隔离要求。

Grant McPherson, chief executive, Education New Zealand, said in an open letter to the sector, “everything we have done – to support each other, support students, establish new initiatives, sustain and build new relationships in our partner countries, keep the New Zealand brand alive, and much more – all this work means that we are now able to focus on rebuilding the international education sector.”

新西兰教育部首席执行官格兰特·麦克弗森在致教育界的一封公开信中说：“我们所做的一切都是为了——相互支持、帮助学生、建立新的倡议、在我们的伙伴国家保持和构造新关系、让新西兰保持活力等等——所有这些工作都意味着我们现在能够专注于重建新西兰国际教育部。”

Jan Thomas, vice-chancellor, Massey University and chair of the New Zealand vice-chancellors’ committee said “universities could not be more prepared for welcoming international students back into our communities – both on campus and off”.

梅西大学副校长、新西兰副校长委员会主席简·托马斯表示，“大学已经做好了最充分的准备，欢迎国际学生重返校园——无论是校内还是校外”。

“We have been working closely with Immigration New Zealand to ensure visa processing runs as smoothly as possible and have been assured it has the necessary systems and capacity in place,” Thomas said.

托马斯说：“我们一直与新西兰移民局联系密切，以确保签证处理尽可能顺利进行，且移民局已保证它们配备必要的系统的审核能力。”

At the beginning of 2022, stakeholders highlighted concerns around visa processing causing uncertainty for returning students. But, along with borders reopening, visa processing has now fully resumed.

2022年初，相关人士强调了人们担心签证审理会影响学生返校。但是，随着边境重新开放，签证处理现在已经完全恢复。

According to Thomas, there are steady numbers of new enrolments for the end of 2022 and early 2023, with numbers expecting to increase as the year progresses.

据托马斯称，2022年底和2023年初的新入学人数保持稳定，且预计往后入学人数还会增加。

“New Zealand’s universities had many international students studying online with us during the pandemic and they are eager to transition to on-campus study as soon as possible,” added Thomas.

托马斯补充说：“在疫情期间，新西兰的大学里的许多国际学生都在学习线上课程，他们渴望尽快过渡到进入校园学习。”

“It is difficult to predict how fast numbers will grow but we are confident international students still want to travel to New Zealand to study at universities all ranked in the top 3% in the world and to experience a country that is friendly, inclusive and safe, with a stunning natural environment.”

“很难预测新增学生的人数增长速度有多块，但我们相信，国际学生仍然希望前往新西兰，在世界排名前3%的大学学习，体验新西兰的友好、包容、安全和令人惊叹的自然环境。”

“We are confident international students still want to travel to New Zealand to study”

“我们相信国际学生仍然希望前往新西兰学习”

Michael Wood, minister of immigration, reflected upon the financial significance of the sector.

移民部长迈克尔·伍德思考了教育部门的经济意义。

“Prior to the pandemic, the international education sector was worth several billion dollars to our country and education providers,” he said.

他说：“在疫情之前，国际教育部门对我们的国家和教育从业者来说价值数十亿美元。”

International students used to bring in around $5 billion per year, making it New Zealand’s fourth largest export earner, but that figure dropped significantly in 2021.

国际学生过去每年带来约50亿美元的收入，使其成为新西兰第四大出口收入来源，但数值却在2021年大幅下降。

“While we’ve continued to support the sector with border exceptions through the pandemic, the full resumption of visa processing is great news for our universities, polytechnics and wānanga, and schools, English language schools, and private training establishments,” he added.

“我们在疫情期间会继续支持本部门的边境防疫政策，但同时全面恢复签证处理对新西兰的大学、理工学院，以及学校、英语语言学校和私人培训机构来说是个好消息，”他补充说。

The border has been open since May 2 to 60 visa-waiver countries, including major tourism markets such as the UK, US, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

自5月2日以来，新西兰边境已向60个免签证国家开放，其中包括英国、美国、德国、日本和韩国等主要旅游市场。

Many in the sector are prepared for a challenge ahead, including McPherson who said “rebuilding the sector will not be quick or easy or without new challenges”.

教育部的许多人都已准备好了迎接挑战，包括麦克弗森，他说“重建该行业进程缓慢，并非易事，且还有许多新挑战在前等着我们”。

Jason Cushen, director of international, University of Otago, an institution which lost more than $40 million in international student revenue since the beginning of the pandemic, said that “it will be a number of years before we get back to the number of students that we were enrolling in 2019”.

奥塔哥大学自疫情以来在国际留学生上损失4000万美元，其国际部主任强森·库深表示：“要想回到我们在2019年招生的学生数量，那还得很多年”。

He added that he expects to see an initial bounce back in enrolments followed by a period of slow growth.

他补充说，他预计入学人数会有一个初始反弹，随后将出现一段缓慢增长期。