Business Desk 
Jan 27, 2025
In order to boost tourism, New Zealand’s government has announced to relax its visitor visa rules.
With this initiative, New Zealand is opening its doors to digital nomads, remote workers who use technology to work from anywhere in the world while visiting the country.
According to Immigration Minister Erica Stanford, starting on January 27, this move is expected to attract a new market of visitors who want to work while touring the country.
"We want people to see our country as the ideal place to visit and work while they do it," Stanford said.
“I expect in their time here that they will spend longer than they normally would, they will spend more because they’re here for longer, and the thing that we’re hoping, is that they fall in love with the place,” she noted.
It should be noted that the changes to visitor visa rules come as New Zealand's economy is looking to recover from a technical recession in the third quarter of 2024.
The tourism sector, which is New Zealand’s second-largest export earner, has not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic with international visitors at around 86% of 2019 levels.
However, the Minister of Economic Growth Nicola Willis said, "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."
The new visa rules will allow remote workers to stay in New Zealand for up to a year, as long as their work is outside the country.
