The Government has announced changes to help increase access to working holiday makers already in New Zealand, and those looking to travel to New Zealand. The details of these changes can be found below.
Extending the visas of working holiday makers already in New Zealand with visas expiring between 26 August 2022 and 31 May 2023 by 6 months.
Providing an additional opportunity for those who previously held a working holiday visa but didn’t travel due to Covid-19. New visas will be issued to people from October 2022 allowing them to enter New Zealand by 31 January 2023. This visa will allow them to be in New Zealand for 12 months.
Doubling the Working Holiday Scheme caps with a one-off increase to recognise the spots that were unused last year due to the border restrictions. This could mean up to 12,000 more working holiday makers may come to New Zealand over the next 12 months.
We will roll out the cap increase gradually, opening the 4 largest capped schemes with the highest demand.
Malaysia
Chile
Argentina, and
Taiwan.
This will be done by the end of September 2022.
The remaining smaller capped schemes will then be rolled out by January 2023. This will ensure each country gets the benefit of this year’s allocation.