New Zealand is opening our clean green arms to digital nomads. Here are some directions around our lovely towns, housing crisis and cafe locations.
Hello digital nomads. Luckily for you, our newly minted economic growth minister Nicola Willis has lifted up her pointer finger, flipped her hand around, and is beckoning you over. “New visa rules will put New Zealand boldly on the map as a welcoming haven for the world’s talent,” she said on Monday. All you visiting IT specialists and influencers are now allowed to work in 100% Pure New Zealand for up to nine months, as long as your money is coming from elsewhere. It’s the same old visitor visa with no extra costs, and for 90 days, you won’t be required to declare yourself as a tax resident here.
Don’t act cool. Allegedly, six people are already keen even before any of the $100,000 marketing campaign has been rolled out. That’s good, because immigration minister Erica Stanford wants you to come “right now” possibly to replace the residents who are leaving at record rates.
We know you’re already browsing flights and mid-term accommodation options, so here’s a handy guide to places you should, and shouldn’t, choose to work.
OK, you can work here
Timaru
On the eastern coast of the South Island sits a little port city called Timaru. It’s got a lovely beach called Caroline Bay, where you can watch a colony of the world’s smallest penguin – kororā (little blue penguin). I would not recommend swimming unless you get a thick wetsuit. The sky tends to shroud itself in a mysterious grey fog, and last year 655 people lost their jobs with the closure of the meatworks. At least 20 went to Australia. Sad, but the limited other employment opportunities means that more are likely to clear out, leaving space for visitors who bring their employment with them.
Hobbiton
The real-life movie set from Lord of The Rings and the other trilogy we prefer not to mention is out among the pastures waiting for you. Just imagine having Frodo’s pantry as your Zoom background. Everyone in the meeting will get so hungry it will finish early and you can pop off to the gift shop.
Wellington
The capital city needs you. With 9,520 (and counting) public servant jobs cut by the current coalition, plus killer bike lanes, Wellington’s cafes have been emptying out and shuttering. The rental market has slowed down, with one property manager claiming to have seen rents decrease by 20%. Please, save our cafe capital, one hazelnut latte at a time.
Raetihi
In a North Island valley between two National Parks and only 11km away from ski fields is another zombie population-challenged town. Raetihi boasts the Dinosaur House Museum, complete with replicas and documentaries, but not many jobs. A whole 230 jobs were lost when pulp and paper mills closed down, and many people were packing to leave town last October. I can confirm there are at least two cafes in town so it’s the perfect place to BYO job.
Hokitika
A simply lovely seaside town on the West Coast. This part of the South Island boasts “untamed, natural wilderness, authentic experiences and friendly characters”. Hokitika beach is perfectly positioned to view sunsets, and every January hosts a Driftwood and Sand festival. On the edge of town there’s the Glow Worm Dell, and lakes, walks, gorges, forests, zip lines and historical gold mining sites.
Ōhura
The main street may be bestowed with rusty tin and rotting weatherboards, but be sure not to overlook Ōhura. About 120 people live there but there were twice as many in 1996, the year that Telecom launched its first internet offering AKA when the internet arrived in New Zealand. If you want to experience a quintessential rural town, this could be it. It’s built on swamp land, an iconic colonial choice, and has a bustling cosmopolitan club which may or may not have wifi.
Rotorua
Heaps of motels have recently been kicked off a gravy train, so there’s plenty of places to stay. I’ve been told that you simply get used to the rotten egg smell.
A castle in the Coromandel
In December, an abandoned castle hit the slowest property market New Zealand has seen in ages. It’s no ordinary castle, but a dream and collaboration by a world-famous-in-New-Zealand architect and a local painter you’ve probably never heard of. It was never completed, but has a turret and sea views so that’s probably all you need. It seems to be unsold, so suuuuurely the vendor would welcome short-term stays. Make sure you hire a four-wheel drive to get there.
Stay away!
Queenstown
I have to warn you against a favoured location of “high-value” tourists such as yourself. Queenstown, the luxe gateway to adventure sports, vineyards, historic mining towns, The Remarkables and Coronet Peak has no houses left. The lack of supply has pushed rents to unimaginable extremes, and has people camping out long-term in cars and vans, and hotels buying other hotels as accommodation for their staff.
Department of Conservation (DOC) huts
Yes, there are super-cute little huts up and down the entire country you can stay in for a dime. Just one problem, there is a citizen-enforced ban on technology unless its high-tech head torches, vortex camping pots and new versions of waterproof fabric.
Auckland
You’re likely to land here and my advice is to just keep moving. We’ve only just managed to pass on the crown for having the highest rent in the country (thanks Bay of Plenty) and we’d quite like to not get it back. When Spain introduced a digital nomad-friendly visa in 2023, its big coastal city Barcelona experienced a “quick and extreme case of gentrification” and rents rose 60% in five years, said Barcelona-dweller Marta Bausells to RNZ’s Morning Report. All you need to do here is have a look at our big syringe and move on, thanks.
Fiordland
Yes, it is beautiful, yes, I know you want to go there, but it’s simply not conducive to work that requires only your hands to move. There is something that the stunning photographs of fiords, waterfalls and mountains don’t show. Something not marked on maps and that tourism operators like to exclude from their sales pitches. Millions of tiny black sandflies that will eat you alive and fly into your eyes. They will find any way to get you, including going through the vents of bathroom extraction fans. Oh, and there’s also alpine parrots that would love to take apart your laptop.
Raglan
It’s an official fact that with digital nomads come more trendy cafes. If this happened in Raglan something would break on the time-space continuum. Enough is enough.