The primary refugees to come back to New Zealand after spending years in offshore Australian detention camps have arrived.
The group landed in Auckland on Tuesday afternoon, with the New Zealand authorities confirming the primary six refugees had been on board.
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Michael Wooden stated the Australian and New Zealand governments are persevering with to work collectively "to resettle 150 refugees yearly from Australia's present regional processing cohort".
An nearly 10-year provide from New Zealand to resettle 150 refugees a yr from Australia was lastly agreed to in March.
The provide permits 150 asylum seekers a yr, both from Nauru or quickly held in Australia for regional processing, to come back to New Zealand as refugees.
The provide spans three years.
The refugees even have to fulfill New Zealand's Refugee Quota Programme necessities.
As of March, there have been 112 refugees and asylum seekers in Nauru.
There have been 1100 others taken to Australia for medical causes, with half of these residing in group detention and the opposite half on bridging visas.
By the tip of September, there have been 32 individuals being processed for relocation to New Zealand beneath the 150 provide.
Wooden stated on the time the variety of individuals was "not an enormous shock" because it wasn't at all times a fast course of.
Wooden stated, so far as he was conscious, no candidates had been denied by the UNHCR.
Mustafa Derbashi of the Asylum Seeker Assist Belief stated the arrival was "very thrilling information for us and for refugees generally".
"We want them to have an incredible expertise as a part of our whānau to search out an incredible secure house."
Derbashi stated there have been quite a lot of different individuals ready for the same likelihood to be "handled as human beings".
"We're very completely happy... however nonetheless ready for extra excellent news concerning the others and the opposite refugees."
In 2013, Australia introduced no asylum seeker, many fleeing persecution or violence, arriving by boat may decide on its shores.
A 2016 take care of the US, an settlement to take 1250 of these residing in offshore detention camps, was a yr later on the centre of a spat with then-president Donald Trump and then-Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull – which ended with Trump calling it a "dumb deal".
New Zealand first made the provide in 2013.
Turnbull's successor as Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, stated in 2018 refugees may use New Zealand as a "again door" into Australia, ought to it's accepted.
When the provide was taken up in March this yr, writer Behrouz Boochani, who was detained on Manus Island by Australia for six years after fleeing persecution in Iran, stated the settlement was a world achievement for New Zealand.
"These refugees have been residing in limbo, in very harsh situations, in a really tough state of affairs for a few years," he stated on the time.