Most non - New Zealanders who wish to travel to New Zealand now gain approval to do so through qualifying for a border exception, then being invited to apply for a visa, and a visa is granted on condition that the person has a critical purpose, as laid out in the border exception instructions for travelling to New Zealand. As we have seen, there are always debates about which critical skills or humanitarian circumstances should be prioritised for entry, but I note that New Zealand has been admitting about twice as many people per capita as Australia has.