What is the Cost of a Working Holiday in New Zealand?

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The Working Holiday Visa

This is your key to being able to work and travel in New Zealand! The Working Holiday Visa costs NZ$35-$455 (price is subject to change) and usually allows the holder to stay for six to 23 months depending on nationality. However, there are some slightly different conditions between countries so, be sure to check: first, whether you are eligible for the working holiday visa in New Zealand and, second, what your conditions are for your visa.

Once you are ready to apply, we have a nifty step-by-step Online Application Guide for the Working Holiday Visa.

• New Zealand Working Holiday Visa – NZ$35-$455 (price is subject to change).

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Working Holiday Program and Support Service

Travelling across the world to work, live and travel in a foreign country is a pretty big deal. There’s all the paperwork to sort out, a bank account to set up, and not to mention creating a CV/resume that is going to be successful in New Zealand. You can be forgiven for wanting some peace of mind and ongoing support when living and working in New Zealand.

By all means, you can achieve all this without a support service, and many do. In that case, you don’t have to pay for a support service and that’s another dollar saved! On the other hand, it is a much lengthier process figuring it all out for yourself and making sure you brought all the right paperwork to New Zealand with you, for example. By the time you are all done and dusted, you might have just spent the same as what you would have spent on a working holiday program through more hostel nights as you wait for an appointment at the bank, for example. And that’s all before you have even started exploring New Zealand.

Browse the working holiday company market to see what sort of services are on offer and if they provide services that will meet your needs. Comparison websites like Working Holiday Starter are a good place to start your research – (even some of the NZPocketGuide.com team used it when they first arrived in New Zealand).

Whether you decide to use a working holiday company or not, remember to consider the cost and time it takes to set up your new life in New Zealand!

• New Zealand Working Holiday Program – NZ$500-$2,400

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Cost of Finding a Job

That moment when you decide to settle somewhere for a while and find a job means you will need to invest a bit of time and a little bit of money on a few expenses like printing off your CV, using the WiFi to apply for jobs online, and using transport to get from one job interview to the next (see below). As you can see, they are not huge expenses, especially if you are prepared for finding a job quickly.

Additionally, many people on working holidays in New Zealand include “woofing” in their itinerary; working for social exchange, food and accommodation. See How to Find Work for Accommodation in New Zealand for more on the subject.

• Work exchange membership/year – NZ$20-$40
• Printing/page – NZ$0.20-$1
• Use of computer and internet/hour – NZ$0-$4.

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The Cost of Transport on a Working Holiday

In our Cost of Backpacking in New Zealand article, we go through the cost of travelling nationally around New Zealand. But there may be times during your working holiday when you just need to use transport services to commute to a job, for example, or go to your nearest supermarket. Here are typical prices for transport in New Zealand:

• City bus travel/ zone: NZ$3.50
• City train travel/ zone: NZ$3.50
• Taxi fare start tariff: NZ$3
• Taxi fare/ km (0.6 mi): NZ$3
• Secondhand car (15+ years old): NZ$2,000-$5,000
• Secondhand 2-berth campervan (15+ years old): NZ$3,500-$15,000
• Petrol/ litre (0.3 gallons): NZ$1.90-$2.50 (Check out weekly fuel price data on the MBIE website)
• Diesel/ litre (0.3 gallons): NZ$1.40 (Check out weekly fuel price data on the MBIE website)
• Road User Charge (diesel tax)/ 1,000 km (621 miles): NZ$76-$352 (Check out the price per vehicle weight on the NZ Transport Agency website).

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The Cost of Phone Networks

There are four main phone networks in New Zealand: Spark, 2 Degrees, Skinny and Vodafone. As working holidaymakers are only in New Zealand for up to a year, it’s more cost-effective to use a prepay phone option rather than committing to a contract you cannot get out of when you leave the country.

When you use prepay or pay-as-you-go, it is usually much cheaper to get a weekly or monthly plan rather than paying standard rates. As always, it’s best to browse the market.

• Plan of 200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1.5 Gb/month – NZ$17-$21
• Standard call/minute – NZ$0.40-$50
• Standard text – NZ$20
• Standard data/mb – NZ$0.40-$0.60

More information on pricing can be found in our guide, What are the Best Phone Networks in New Zealand?

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The Cost of Long-Term Accommodation

Once you have landed an awesome job and living the Kiwi life to its fullest, you will need to find some long-term accommodation. Whether it’s a flatshare or you’re spending some time working for accommodation, this will be your cheapest option when staying somewhere for more than a couple of weeks. Take a look at our list of Long-term Accommodation Options When Doing a Gap Year New Zealand.

The cost of renting a room varies depending on what part of New Zealand you are living in. Living in the centre of Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city, will be a lot more expensive than renting a room in one of New Zealand’s small towns.

• Room to rent/week – NZ$175-$350
• Bond (refundable) – NZ$500-$700
• Work for accommodations/day – 4 hours of work.

Be sure to check out Working for Accommodation in New Zealand: What are Your Rights? and Working for Accommodation & Pay in New Zealand: What Are Your Rights? for more information about being paid with accommodation.

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The Cost of National Travel, Tours and Activities in New Zealand

So, in this guide, we have focussed more on the “working” part of the working holiday in New Zealand. But, hell, you want to experience the “holiday” part of it too! We have a whole other guide dedicated to just that, so you can see what prices to expect for:

• National travel via bus, car, flight, etc.
• Accommodation in hostels and campsites
• Food and drink when doing the grocery shopping
• Tours and activities.

Take a look at What is the Cost of Backpacking in New Zealand, as well as NZ Travel Budget: How Much Does a Trip to New Zealand Cost? for an extensive price list.