The freedom to travel and explore new cultures is an attractive aspect of being a digital nomad. (Freepik)
New Zealand's economic growth minister, Nicola Willis, has announced changes to visitor visas, permitting remote work for foreign companies while in the country.
The so-called "digital nomads" include visitors such as IT specialists, as long as they are not receiving any income from New Zealand sources.
It would also extend to influencers, provided they were being paid by overseas companies.
These changes would apply to all visitor visas, including tourists and people visiting family.
Visitor visas can be extended for up to nine months, although the ministers warned that working in New Zealand for more than 90 days could require them to declare themselves as a New Zealand tax resident.
Ms Willis said the new rules would aim to bring in high-value tourists, particularly from the United States and Asia.
Nicola Willis made the announcement on Monday. (RNZ: Reece Baker)
"We envisage, based on experiences around the world that many of these travellers will be highly skilled people with roles that connect them to powerhouse firms and industries globally.
"These are jobs they hold offshore and that they'll be able to stay connected to while in New Zealand.
"They won't be competing for Kiwi jobs. We envisage these will be particularly high-value tourists and our advertising campaigns to promote this initiative will be targeted particularly at highly skilled IT workers from the US and East Asia."
She said people may try to bend the rules in a way that was not intended, but the benefits of making New Zealand more attractive to visitors with sought-after talent far outweighed the risks.
In 2023, the National Party campaigned on a 12-month digital nomad visa to attract skilled mobile people, with the option to apply for a work or residence visa later.
The announcement is the finance minister's first since taking on the new economic growth portfolio, and will be followed by more announcements this year as the government hones in on economic growth and productivity.
Here are the countries that offer digital nomad visas
Photo shows Lady sitting at a desk on her laptop with a view overlooking a lake
Ms Willis was joined by Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston.
Ms Stanford said the changes cleared up rules around checking work emails while on holiday or visiting family in a modern environment, and would attract a tourism market New Zealand had not previously been able to target.
"This visa will be our visitor visa. You will be able to work on a visitor visa. It's simple, it's straightforward, it'll be the same cost as it's always been — there will be no extra cost."
She said it was hard to estimate how many extra tourists the move would bring in, but remote work on holiday was an "extraordinarily popular" approach overseas.
Ms Upston said she was focused on making sure New Zealand was easy to get to.
"The reality is international remote workers, we know, in other countries often spend a longer period of time and invest and spend more while they are here, and it is really important that we attract a broad range of visitors.
"We welcome visitors of all types to New Zealand and in this particular announcement, those who are able to work as digital nomads here on our shores."
Last week, Ms Willis said boosting tourism numbers was a top priority for the government's growth plan.
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Photo shows A graphic of a road caution sign for Kiwis, lying flat on the road.
"Our job is to make it easy for them to come in the door, easy for them to come to New Zealand … then when they get here I've great faith in our tourism providers that they'll do everything they can to get as many dollars out of those back pockets as possible," she said last week.
However, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers said the government would need to provide more infrastructure investment to cope with additional visitors, so ratepayers were not left picking up the tab.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has also identified medium-term changes to international education settings, and more direct foreign investment, as ways to boost growth.
Monday's announcement comes after a high-profile economist said New Zealand's economy recently performed the worst in the developed world.
This story was originally published by Radio New Zealand.
