The return of expat Kiwis has been a hot button topic for politicians and commentators with many demanding they stump up the costs for their own quarantine.
But for some, plans to come home were well underway, even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. However, now it's far from easy.
At a property in Leyton, east London, there's a koru and a fern, a wee give-away that Kiwis live there. But the sold sign is a give-away that home is calling.
"We want to go back, bring the boys up as Kiwis," says Brett Course.
Brett and his wife Jane decided that in December 2019 and put the house on the market. It sold, so Jane took Jack, 4, and Callum, 2, back to New Zealand and she started a new job. Brett stayed to look after the sale.
"Then COVID came along and changed things," he says.
The UK government put a halt on all house sales and when they lifted it two months later, Brett's buyer had pulled out, so he re-listed, but there were more delays with the open home.
"We couldn't show people until they had PPE and they were waiting on that and that took about three weeks," he says.
A new buyer has since come along, but the delays continue.
"There's a backlog in all rubber stamping," Brett says.
He hopes to hand over the keys next week, but then there is a three-week delay in getting a removal company, and after that, a month-long wait to get flights.
"We didn't expect it to be this long. We thought a couple of months, but not four-and-a-half to six months."
On top of all this, he has endured claims from Kiwi politicians and commentators that he has had long enough to get home and should either pay for quarantine or not be let in at all.
Asked why taxpayers should pay for his quarantine, Brett said: "I still file a tax form every year, I do have investments back home but you've just got to fill out a tax return for that, so I still do pay tax every year and fill out a form".
"I pay tax here as well. In the future, I hope to pay tax again because I hope to get a job when I get back and I paid tax before I came here for 20 years."
While Brett is stuck waiting for British bureaucracy, his kids have been without a dad for nearly half a year.
"I miss them a lot, yeah, I miss them a lot. I am not doing too badly. Every now and then… I feel down about it."
The last thing he wants is to be penalised for returning home to the country he loves, whenever that may be.
