Murray McCully: Relaxing UK visa restrictions for Kiwis will take time

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, right, and Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully during their joint press conference at the Beehive today. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealanders will have to wait some time before restrictions on entering Britain are more relaxed, Foreign Minister Murray McCully has said.

Following talks with his British counterpart, Mr McCully said he would like to see visa restrictions for Commonwealth citizens who wished to travel to Britain relaxed, although he said it would take time.

Mr McCully confirmed he had discussed the issue at a meeting today with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

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"It's not something that is going to get advanced in the space of a few hours. It's something that's going to take some time.

"We've not made any breakthroughs but we continue to work at some options which we think will improve the number of skilled New Zealanders able to go over to the UK.

"I want to put on record our appreciation of the work that is done by the Foreign Office to help ensure that our case is well understood in the [British] system."

Last week Fairfax reported that British MPs were trying to make it easier for Kiwis to live and work in Britain while on a visa.

British MPs were reported to have said European citizens were given an unfair advantage over Commonwealth citizens when it came to obtaining visas.

Currently Kiwis could travel to Britain under seven different visa categories, including high-value migrants, skilled workers and ancestry visas, Fairfax reported.