New Zealanders in Australia will be able to travel home without spending time in quarantine, under new rules announced today.
From January 16, fully vaccinated New Zealanders can return from Australia.
They will need to take a COVID-19 test on arrival and will have to spend a week in self-isolation.
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From February 13, fully vaccinated New Zealanders will be able to travel from all other countries.
On April 30, anybody from anywhere will be allowed to enter New Zealand, so long as they are fully vaccinated, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.
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"We are making this announcement today to give families, businesses, visitors and airline and airport companies certainty and time to prepare," he said.
"It's very encouraging that as a country we are now in a position to move towards greater normality."
Mr Hipkins defended the decision not to open borders before Christmas.
"We acknowledge it's been tough but the end of heavily restricted travel is now in sight," he said.
"There continues to be a global pandemic with cases surging in Europe and other parts of the world, so we do need to be very careful when reopening the border."
There are currently 4828 active cases in New Zealand.
There were 215 new community cases in the country in the past 24 hours, most of them in Auckland.
