New Zealanders wanting to travel and live in the UK will welcome a promise from British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson they have nothing to fear from Brexit.
The former London mayor compared that city with Auckland in its diversity and openness to talent but said the public had a democratic right to feel the Government was in charge of the immigration situation.
"That does not mean we're in any way going to make it more difficult for New Zealanders,'' he said in Wellington yesterday after meetings with Prime Minister Bill English and Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee.
"On the contrary. We love Kiwis coming to our country ... so on the ancestry visas and overseas experience, no, we will want to maintain a regime that is at least as attractive as the current regime and we want to maintain a policy of openness and engagement.''
That process will include what Mr Brownlee called "people-to-people dialogue'' with officials, who are aware of potential glitches in discussions, playing a role in securing the best deals for all.
"As you heard the Foreign Secretary say today, he doesn't want to see anyone worse off.
"We think there might be some chances of getting some better access, particularly for our young people,'' he said.
Mr Johnson also said no party was going to be worse off under new trade and visa rules with post-Brexit Britain.
New Zealand would be "at or near to'' the top of the queue for a trade deal with the United Kingdom once it separated from the European Union, but it could still be some time away.
It was expected to be at least two years until Britain could fully extricate itself from the EU.
He said Britain would remain a proud recipient of New Zealand dairy and sheep meat products.
"I think my grandmother would buy absolutely nothing else but Anchor butter, I want you to know,'' he said.
"The key thing to stress here is that nobody is going to be any worse off. No party in the deal that we're going to do is going to be any worse off.
"We're going to get a great deal that works for everybody.''
Beyond trade and travel, the trio discussed sharing intelligence to combat terrorism and the threat posed by North Korea's "nuclear adventurism''.
"To an almost embarrassing degree there was a total failure to disagree on any point of substance,'' Mr Johnson said.
"These are two countries that really do think on the same lines on so many of the issues that matter to our people and to our electorates.''
Mr Johnson also met Labour leader Andrew Little briefly yesterday. He heads to Australia later this week.
