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Border update for IWG World Conference, November 2022

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Message from IWG Co-Chair Raewyn Lovett ONZM and IWG Secretary General Rachel Froggatt:

Kia ora everyone,

On behalf of the IWG Global Executive, we hope you have had a good start to the New Year!

In our last update, we announced that the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport would be postponed by 6 months to 14 – 17th November 2022. This decision was made due to ongoing border restrictions, which would have prevented us from welcoming any speakers or participants in-person from outside Aotearoa New Zealand.

This week the New Zealand government announced that borders will be fully open by October 2022, the month before the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport. From now the border will open gradually for various visa groups, and by July 2022 it will be open to anyone from Australia and visa-waiver countries such as the U.K and many European countries, Canada and the USA, the U.A.E and Qatar, and many Asian countries.

This announcement is very exciting and gives us real confidence that we will be able to welcome an incredibly diverse group of participants from all over the world, in-person.

While we were waiting for this news, we had continued with our preparations to deliver both a hybrid in-person and virtual experience and a virtual-only experience, as planned. The postponement has allowed us to preserve the vision to create a highly interactive, collaborative and connected event in-person, with an equally vibrant experience online.

Since December 2021, we have been consulting with the nearly 250 Presenting Groups originally scheduled to take part in May 2022, and we are delighted to advise that the majority have been able to recommit to November 2022. If you are a Presenter, our conference agency will be contacting you again soon to provide you with next steps.

We have also been working toward re-launching registrations – which were paused when the postponement was announced – and preparing some exciting news regarding the Programme. Watch out for announcements on our social media just ahead of UN International Women’s Day, 8 March 2022!  If you are already a Registered Participant, again, our conference agency will be contacting you soon to reconfirm your plans.

At the moment the only way to enter Aotearoa New Zealand is as a New Zealander or on a special visa, via 10 days in government-run Managed Isolation & Quarantine (MIQ) centres.

The great news is that over the coming months, MIQ will be removed for most vaccinated travellers and replaced with self-isolation and a testing regime on arrival, as follows:

  • Between February and April, New Zealanders and eligible skilled workers can enter
  • Further visa categories will open in stages from April to July, including international students
  • By July, anyone from Australia and visa-waiver countries such as the U.K and many European countries, Canada and the USA, the U.A.E and Qatar, and many Asian countries can enter (click here to see if your country is on the visa-waiver list)
  • By October, the border will fully open to visitors from anywhere in the world
  • Some isolation and testing is still likely to be required, with details to be announced

You can read the government announcement here.

We hope that these border announcements will give you some certainty in your planning to attend the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport in-person in November 2022. If you are still unsure, this is understandable and our recommendation would be to sign up for the virtual-only experience when registrations re-open shortly, and we can easily upgrade you to add physical registration at a later point, once your travel plans are more certain.

As ever, we remain committed to the delivery of this event and are grateful to our Partners, especially Sport New Zealand and the New Zealand government, our Presenters, and existing Registered Participants, for their ongoing support and contributions thus far.

If you have any questions, see the updated FAQs on the website or email our conference agency, The Conference Company, at iwg@theconferencecompany.com.

Ngā mihi nui,

Raewyn Lovett ONZM
Co-Chair
International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport

Rachel Froggatt
Secretary General
International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport

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