The country, which sank into a recession last year, is trying to entice highly skilled “digital nomads” to work in the island nation for up to nine months.
New Zealand relaxed its visa requirements for remote workers on Monday, as the country looked to spur economic growth by courting “digital nomads,” the skilled professionals who can work from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection.
With the new policy, a New Zealand visitor visa, which allows foreigners to remain for up to nine months, now also permits them to work for overseas employers during that time, which had been forbidden. The visitor visa still does not allow people to work for New Zealand employers, so “they won’t be competing for Kiwi jobs,” said Nicola Willis, the finance minister.
“The visa will open the doors to a whole new category of visitors,” she told reporters. “The government’s ambition is that new visa rules will put New Zealand boldly on the map as a welcoming haven for the world’s talent,” she added.
The visa change follows a difficult economic period for New Zealand, whose economy sank into recession in the third quarter of 2024.
Ms. Willis presented the new visa rules as a strategy to shift New Zealand “onto a faster growth track,” and said that advertising campaigns will specifically target skilled tech workers from the United States and East Asia. The government hopes to draw the interest not only of those workers, but also of their companies.
“We want more of the world’s wealthy and super-talented people,” she said.