It's not just the sick and dying trying to get a spot in New Zealand's managed isolation and quarantine facilities.
The number of people trying to get their partners into the country has ballooned into the thousands.
Jonathon Small left Asia and moved home to Ashburton to run the family farm. He hasn't seen his partner Grace - who is still stuck in Hong Kong - since November 2019, because she's been blocked from entering.
"I'm struggling to understand why it's so hard and why she can't come in," Small explained.
The couple have lived together, travelled together and had plans to move to Ashburton permanently and start a family - but they don't live together right now, so don't fit into the Government's criteria.
"There seems to be some inequities in there because there are several people we are aware of who have brought partners in who are not living together or haven't lived together, or have lived together at different times," Small's father Graeme said.
Jonathon may have to travel to Hong Kong or somewhere else to be with Grace, before bringing her back to New Zealand - doubling the chance of bringing COVID-19 back into the country.
It's a reality many are facing, says immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont.
"Almost on a daily basis we will get two or three emails from clients saying the Government wants us to quit our jobs, leave the country in order to come back with the partners they already recognise as being in a genuine partnership.”
While Small has been trying to secure Grace's entry since September last year, he's watched sports teams and entertainers come into the country instead.
McClymont believes discrimination might also be at play.
"It's incredibly unfair because if you're from a Western, European country, the same rules don't apply than if you're from a non-Western country."
MIQ criteria has just been widened for emergency spots. When Newshub asked if provisions could be expanded further, the response was it's up to Ministers.
A decision for Ministers, that the Smalls hope will be considered soon.
