How to work remotely as a Digital Nomad in New Zealand? Eligibility, visa rules, and more

While the United States, Canada and several European Union Member states are imposing stringent immigration restrictions, New Zealand has decided to join the Digital Nomad bandwagon by allowing visitor visa holders to work remotely for an overseas employer or client.

This will allow all visitors, including tourists and people visiting family, and partners and guardians, on longer-term visitor visas to work as digital nomads.

These new conditions mean that tourists can stay in New Zealand as a digital nomad and keep in touch with work back home, without breaching their visa conditions. Both visitor visa recipients and people who enter with a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) will receive these conditions.

The eligibility criteria for Visitor visa holders includes:

• They cannot work for a New Zealand employer

• Cannot provide goods or services to people or businesses in New Zealand

• Cannot do work that requires them to be physically present at a workplace in New Zealand. Visitors whose employment requires them to be in New Zealand, such as sales representatives of overseas companies, performers and people coming to work for New Zealand employers, must still obtain visas relevant to their circumstances.

• People who intend to work remotely from New Zealand for more than 90 days in a 12-month period should look at possible tax implications.

The new rule will take effect for all applications submitted from January 27, 2025.

According to a statement released by New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston, the change is part of the New Zealand government’s plan to unlock the country’s potential by shifting the country onto a faster growth track and updating the visitor visa reflects ‘the realities of the modern, flexible working environment’.

Making the country more attractive to digital nomads—people who work remotely while travelling —will boost New Zealand’s attractiveness as a destination, the release added. 

“This is a brand-new market of tourists New Zealand can tap into. We want people to see our country as the ideal place to visit and work while they do it,” Immigration Minister Erica Stanford was quoted in the release.

It may be noted that tourism is New Zealand’s second largest foreign exchange earner, generating revenue of almost $11 billion and creating nearly 200,000 jobs.

Indian tourists in New Zealand
 

In 2023, total arrivals from India increased 124% on 2019 numbers. Holiday visitors from India also have some of the highest spend per visit of all our markets, an average of NZ$5,324 per visit, third highest behind visitors from the UK and Germany.

Tourism New Zealand research shows that there are around 16.4 million people in India actively considering a holiday to New Zealand.

Also Read: New Zealand eases visa rules to allow visitors to work remotely

What are New Zealand’s Visitor Visa rules?

The maximum duration you can stay in New Zealand depends on whether you have a multiple-entry or a single-entry visa.

Multiple entries: If you have a multiple entry visa, you can visit New Zealand as a tourist as many times as you want and stay for a total of up to 6 months in a 12-month period. The 12-month period is calculated back from the last day you intend to be in New Zealand (your intended departure date).

Single entry: Single-entry visa lets you enter New Zealand once and stay for up to 9 months in an 18-month period. If you have a single entry Visitor Visa and you leave the country, your visa will expire.

Also Read: New Zealand launches ‘Recovery Visa’ scheme: Follow these 4 steps to apply for work visa

2024 Immigration highlights

Year 2024 has been a milestone year for New Zealand immigration. The highlights include:

• Over 1.1 million visa decisions were made.

• More than 97,000 student visas were decided — 85% of these were approved.

• Nearly 538,000 visitor visa applications were decided and 88% were approved.

• More than 1.6 million NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authorities) were received and approved.

• Over 17,000 employers either renewed accreditation, or became newly accredited employers, under the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) policy. This brought the total number of current accredited employers to more than 27,000.

• Over 2,800 AEWV post-accreditation checks of employers were completed.

• Nearly 50,000 working holiday applications were decided and 97% approved. There were also 5,697 working holiday extensions applications approved.

• More than 14,300 Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) applications were approved.

Other countries offering Digital Nomad visas

Globally, there are nearly 66 countries that offer digital nomad visas or special permits for remote workers. In all countries, the basic criteria to become a digital nomad are:
• Be over 18 years of age, have a specific monthly income (the amount varies from country to country) and
• Have a job you can do from anywhere in the world.

According to the Digital Nomad Visa Index, Spain is the best country for digital nomads, followed by Argentina. Romania, United Arab Emirates, Croatia, Portugal, Uruguay, Malta, Norway and Andorra featured in the list of Top 10 countries for digital nomads.

While the tax-free duration in Spain, Norway and Portugal is six months, Argentina, Romania, UAE, Croatia, Uruguay and Malta offer tax-free sops during the entire length of the stay. Andorra, however, has no tax-free period.