This was published 1 year ago
Remote working in New Zealand: Australians encouraged to extend stays and work overseas
By Sue Williams
Auckland's Wynyard Quarter. Tourism New Zealand is hoping its cafe culture will help attract Australian digital nomads.Credit: iStock
If you can work happily in the internet cloud, then the Land of the Long White Cloud is calling.
New Zealand has launched a spirited campaign to entice Australians across the Tasman to operate as digital nomads, stressing the minor time difference, the almost dollar parity, the excellent Wi-Fi and the advantages of a shared language.
With anyone on an Australian passport also receiving an automatic permanent visa as well as reciprocal healthcare benefits, the Kiwis are confident it's a no-brainer.
Kirsten O'Sullivan decided to fly to New Zealand for a holiday and then work remotely from there.
"2023 is going to be the year where remote working really matures as people have a much better understanding of it," said Andrew Waddel, the general manager of Tourism New Zealand Australia.
"As a result, we're seeing a big increase in the number of Australians coming to New Zealand to work.
"Now we're confident we'll see a lot more coming as they realise they can work just as effectively in beautiful places, around stunning scenery, and get refreshed and reinvigorated, and explore fabulous places on weekends. And we even use the same plugs."
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon once famously said that New Zealanders moving to Australia "raised the IQ of both countries". But that's all now forgotten as our Kiwi cousins attempt to lure far more Australians over to their homeland.
Pre-COVID, 1.5 million Australians visited New Zealand annually, and with that figure looking likely to be surpassed this year with long-haul flights still so expensive, they're being urged to stay on longer to work, or go over just for a change in their work environment.
One Australian who's already heeded the call is Kirsten O'Sullivan, 40, who decided to fly from her home on the Gold Coast to New Zealand for a holiday with her partner and two young children and then work remotely from there.
"I wanted to visit some family and then I just worked where I was, visiting other places for long weekends, and taking a road trip," said O'Sullivan who works in the advertising industry. "I stayed in Auckland for a while, visited Rotorua, then went to Napier to work from there and went to Havelock and Mount Maunganui.
"It was my first experience of remote working and I worked from the Airbnbs I stayed in or in cafes and it was pretty good. I'd definitely recommend it but, while it's a tiny country, the roads wind around a lot, so you have to plan where to go."
The whole world is now trying to snatch a share of the lucrative new digital nomad market, with US statistics company Gitnux reporting that the number of people working remotely has more than tripled since the pandemic. In America alone, 16.9 million people now describe themselves as digital nomads.
As a result, 49 countries introduced new visas at the start of 2023 to allow visitors to work remotely within their borders, typically for up to a year, permitting them to continue to pay income tax in their own country.
Libby Sander, assistant professor of organisational behaviour at Bond University, has been tracking the movement.
"A key driver of the digital nomad trend is the ability to maintain a career while ticking off other personal goals, particularly travel and the ability to experience a different way of life," she said.
"Moving somewhere with a cheaper cost of living could be another motivation."
Anyone thinking about giving it a go, however, is urged to check they could cope with the possible isolation, will have a good internet connection, know that the time difference won't be too disruptive to the working hours back home and have health insurance.
And that's where New Zealand, a quick zip across the ditch, is at a distinct advantage, argues Waddel.
"We're in a close time zone, have great co-working spaces and libraries and hotels to work in and excellent cafes which always serve two shots of coffee instead of Australia's one," he said.
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