Is it time to ditch the New Zealand Traveller Declaration? – Stuff

Brook Sabin/Stuff

The reaction after my form shut down and I had to follow the two-step process to get back in.

Brook Sabin is a travel reporter for Stuff.

OPINION: "Please allow 40 minutes to complete this form." I'm sitting in Australia trying to get permission to enter my own country through a process that feels like formageddon.

Before boarding a flight to Aotearoa, you must have a New Zealand Traveller Pass which is obtained through filling in a multi-step Covid form known as the New Zealand Traveller Declaration.

I'm warned at the start that I need to provide accurate information or I could be unable to board.

Many countries introduced such measures as borders first opened up, primarily to keep track of pre-departure tests and vaccination status.

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As international travel is back on the cards for many, Kiwi travellers are reporting different pre-departure test experiences.

However, you no longer require a pre-departure test to enter New Zealand. And Kiwis can enter their own country without needing a vaccination pass. So, requiring New Zealanders to fill out this form is bureaucratic nonsense.

After making a couple of trips to Australia, everyone I spoke to seemed annoyed by the process. Even the check-in agent said, "I'm surprised they make you do this to get into your own country." The most significant problem people raised, aside from it being a waste of time, was the elderly who struggle with things like connecting their phone to wi-fi, let alone filling out online declarations.

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The New Zealand Traveller Declaration must be filled in by everyone entering New Zealand by air.

The first time I filled out the form, it took about 25 minutes because I skim-read everything. The second time I skipped all the text, and it took 14. But for someone reading it all, and collecting all the documents, I can see why they warn about 40 minutes.

I twice managed to accidentally exit my form, only to be told that I had a seven-digit reference number waiting for me in my emails to help me get back in. Once I'd entered that, another email was sent to me with a temporary code.

Some older people struggle with phones and apps. I can only imagine the difficulty of copying codes in the email app, and then heading back to the internet browser to put them in.

The form requires passport details, "proof of vaccination, if required", a 14-day travel history, flight details, emergency contact details, your contact details, and an email address.

But, hang on. New Zealanders dont need a vaccine certificate or pre-departure test to enter, so the only helpful information is a 14-day travel history.

However, the three-page customs form you fill out on the plane collects precisely that. In fact, it asks for a 30-day travel history.

The form is arguably justified for overseas tourists if we want to continue asking them to provide a vaccine certificate to enter the country. (Or perhaps, like Australia, we should lift all Covid entry restrictions.)

After arriving in New Zealand, you must take a RAT test on day zero and day five or six. If any of these are positive, you then need to get a PCR test. Surely, if the point of the form is to track new variants of Covid, this is the time we collect all the information at the point of being positive.

When Aucklanders were finally released from their Delta lockdown of late 2021, they didn't need a form to travel to the South Island. Of course not; they're Kiwis.

But, we're making Kiwis fill one out to get home. It's time we followed Australia, and much of the world, and put that in the Covid-19 bin.

It was so liberating flying to Australia without Covid bureaucracy. I cant say the same for coming home.

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Is it time to ditch the New Zealand Traveller Declaration? - Stuff