With New Zealand opening its borders to foreigners again after a long hiatus, now is a great time to discuss the New Zealand Working Holiday Visa as an option to those wanting to visit the country. This is a particularly good option if you are young and don’t have a lot of money for travel.
If you are under 30 (or 35 in some cases), you can easily apply for the New Zealand working visa. This grants young travelers up to 12 months (Or 23 months in some) to explore. After the time is up, you can likely apply for a different visa if you wish to remain in the country. Many young people report that spending time on these kinds of visas were among the best times of their life.
You should be aware that you will need to have enough money for a return flight ticket and additionally you must be arriving primarily for holiday. This means work and/or study must be your secondary intentions. You will also be unable to take a permanent job while on this visa, but you can still likely get your job to sponsor you for full residency afterward! You should also consider that New Zealand has had a rapidly rising cost of living, especially ever since many billionaires have begun buying up property, so make sure to plan your finances well.
The New Zealand has a great resource on finding job opportunities in the country. You can look at, apply, and interview with companies before getting your Visa and they will be happy to help you as well. On successful visa application you will be able to stay in New Zealand for up to 12 months, or 23 months if you are from the UK or Canada.
Additionally, you can use your working holiday visa to study one or more courses up to 6 months. If English isn’t your first language, this could be a good opportunity if you want to study abroad and practice your English in a western country.
As of March 2022, the following working holiday schemes will open to applications from:
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, Japan.
You can find up-to-date information on the official New Zealand government page here as well as information on when it will be available for other countries as well.