What it’s Actually Like to Live in New Zealand as a Foreigner During Covid-19

A tale of international love, life abroad, mental health, and adventure in its purest form. 

The Complexities of Living Abroad

When I post photos of myself smiling in breathtaking landscapes and share exciting travel anecdotes on social media and my blog, that’s only a tiny snippet into my world here in Queenstown. And that’s only a snippet of what it is to be a foreigner in another country during Covid-19. Let’s just say things are complex when living abroad, but that’s all part of the adventure. I’m going to share some of my experiences on how I randomly ended up in one of the only Covid-free countries in the world. First, let’s back up to March 2020. 

My anxiety was mounting after we caught wind of the severity of the Coronavirus. My partner, Nick, and I had just gotten settled in a new apartment and both secured promising new jobs. After learning about Covid, I started to become sick with fear: physically and mentally. Fear that I had Covid, fear that I was transmitting it and fear that I was just being a hypochondriac. I had a suspicion I would lose my job as I was only on a temporary visa in New Zealand. Nick and I entered the country only six months earlier on Working Holiday Visas.

How The Heck Are You Working in a Foreign Country?

Working Holiday Visa means young people can come visit New Zealand and work and travel for a year, or sometimes more. Sometimes more? What does that mean? In places like Queenstown, or throughout the South Island, years ago New Zealand didn’t have a big enough population to support the growing economy so they basically allowed loads of migrants into the country to fill roles New Zealanders could not fill. 

Who were these migrants? They came in all forms. Whether it was for low, medium, high skilled jobs, people from many countries around the world flocked here. People came to flip patties at Fergburger and build bridges around the Lakes District. Hundreds of thousands of people began the process of immigrating for a better lifestyle, better opportunities, or a kiwi adventure. 

Any who, in 2019 “sponsorship,” the process of getting an employer to sponsor you to stay in the country, was almost guaranteed. “Are you looking to stay in New Zealand? Are you looking for sponsorship?” These two questions were asked in every single interview I had throughout my Working Holiday Visa. Foreigners love New Zealand and have a hard time leaving! And until now, New Zealand had loved foreigners.

“Let’s Move to New Zealand”

Being the fun-loving outdoorsy kids, Nick and I are, we drank the poison. “So you’re telling us that if we get any job in Queenstown, from housekeeping to marketing to being a tour guide, we can stay in the country for up to 3 years, on a skills shortage visa?” We were shocked, intrigued and bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Stay, we would then! We were loving it!! If it’s that easy, why not play on the hundreds of backcountry trails in the summer and snowboard in the winters? That was it. We planned to stay. Before Covid hit that is…

Another point to note is that the reason Nick and I came out to New Zealand is because we were in a bit of a pickle as an international couple. He couldn’t come to the US for more than 90 days and I couldn’t visit the UK for longer than a few months. New Zealand was our middle ground and we were so fortunate to be able to come here to explore a new country and our relationship. We became closer than ever. While we became more connected to each other, we simultaneously fell in love with New Zealand. 

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When we first arrived, our mindset was adventure-focused. Do the job so we can get the money to pay for the adventures- no matter what the job is. Between the two of us in November 2019 we were working as hostel receptionists, housekeepers, farm hands on a dairy farm, a waitress, a construction hand, and a writer for a runner’s magazine. And we were making barely enough money to get by. It was thrilling and stressful and exciting and tedious.  

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Queenstown: Paradise at Last

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Once we came to Queenstown, everything changed. Queenstown is a small resort town made up of primarily expats. A Working Holiday Visa meant a golden ticket to any job that you’re qualified for in town and almost no competition, considering almost everyone else here is tied to their jobs through their visas. And having a US college degree, dang that looked good! Soon I started applying to career-based jobs, which absolutely blew my mind. I fully prepared to be doing bartending, waitressing or other hospitality jobs as a traveler on my temporary one-year visa, not start building the foundations for a future here. 

I got a pretty sweet gig doing marketing work for a hospitality conglomerate. Nick secured a job doing digital marketing for an adventure company with a promise of a career, future in Queenstown and opportunities for growth. This was my first “real job” and I nearly cried when I got the position. I had never worked a full-time position, doing a career-driven job in my own country, let alone a different country. I was stoked. Fast forward to Covid: I knew I would be one of the first ones fired. It was predictable when I was told I was no longer needed with the group. Alright, so what now? 

International Lockdown

Nick and I were sitting in the car and I was on the phone with my mom. “So what should we do… the border is about to shut.” “I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. I said, “But we love New Zealand, so here’s the deal: If we stay, when Covid blows over in a few months, we will be here. We will have survived it with the community and we will be ready to work and keen for sponsorship.” “Sounds like a reasonable idea,” my mom said as she tried to understand the nuances of sponsorship in a foreign country.

At this point, I still think both mine and Nick’s parents thought we were crazy. And to us, it seemed so obvious that it would all work out. All the other foreigners would leave, we would stay, and us hunkering down through the storm would prove our grit and dedication to the country and community.

If I were to go back to the United States, I wouldn’t know when I would see Nick again and same for him going back to England and seeing me. We had already endured two years of the ups and downs of long distance and we were not prepared to jump back into the separation. It was so difficult to think about splitting up. And if we were to attempt to go to the same country, we would’ve risked overstaying our visas. It broke my heart to even think about the possibility of saying goodbye and not knowing when we would see one another again. We would stick it out in New Zealand and see what would happen.

Is Home Where You Grew Up Or Where You Keep Your Suitcase?

New Zealand felt like home after such a short time. My job, my friends, my apartment, my boyfriend, my small amount of belongings, my life all existed here. My life with my partner exists here and we were here to develop that sense of community and invest in a life together. Just because I am not a citizen, it didn’t feel fair to give that up and I wasn’t ready to let go of these connections. We decided to stay and the next day, the borders closed (March 2020). The borders have been closed since that day, still now in March 2021.

What we predicted to be a month of lockdown, turned into a year of Covid with vacuum-sealed borders in New Zealand and visa insanity. What we thought would be a few months of waiting it out, turned into not seeing our families and homes for two and three years respectively, but making incredible friendships and living healthy, happy and Covid-free lives.

Let’s Talk About Borders

The borders were closed in New Zealand, so Covid could not get in. Very smart moves, Aunty Cindy. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s incredible Prime Minister, adorably nicknamed Aunty Cindy, has been a godsend through the pandemic. 

Under her leadership, NZ offered repatriation flights to kiwis all over the world (and even sometimes free ones). No matter if an old kiwi dude was the only NZ citizen in Brazil, they would send a plane for him. I got an email from the US State Department telling me to find my own way home or “remain abroad indefinitely.” Really cool, thanks USA! 

Living abroad, your relationship with your home country is like having an ex-partner. The border situation is like if you moved out of their house and accidentally left valuables behind. One type of ex, New Zealand, rings you and offers to deliver them right away with no hard feelings. The other type of ex, the US, texts you that you can come and get them, to let yourself in through the cat door, and then go screw yourself.

Define Lockdown 

Covid resulted in the worldwide lockdown in March. Lockdown is not a one-size-fits all term. Everything was so foreign and chaotic. Every country was dealing with the pandemic differently. With draconian measures in China and no effective measures in the US, there was no unity across the world. In NZ, we had four defined levels of lockdown. We almost immediately went into Level 4, the most strict level of lockdown. What did this mean?

We had to stay at home and could leave the house for exercise once a day, within a certain radius of our homes. We were not allowed to go to anyone else’s home. One person from your entire household was designated as “head of the household,” and could go grocery shopping. 

Security Guards Manning the Grocery Stores 

What did grocery shopping look like? If you had more than 1 person in the car, you were sent home. The head of your household would exit the car and wait in a socially distanced queue regulated by a supermarket employee and security guards. They would let in only a certain number at a time and there were markers through the entire shop to socially distance. NZ took Covid very seriously.

Covid persisted. Eventually, masks were required to be worn throughout the world and people were required to socially distance.

Unraveling 

People around the world were required to stay home and they grew irritated, overworked, under-exercised, and socially deprived. Months went by and Covid became even more rampant in the US with no penalties for ignoring protocols, no strong government guidance or no enforceable regulations. It seemed like a nightmare and I was glad not to be a part of it. 

I feel incredibly blessed I only was in lockdown for eight short weeks and I am unable to speak for those who’ve experienced the worst of the lockdown. I still cannot even fathom the emotional exhaustion, stress, and depression that Covid caused most people around the world. I will never understand it because I was lucky enough to be in a country that eliminated it early on, but I am so shocked, saddened and stunned to hear about people’s experiences. 

With no international movement and decreased trade, it looked like a bleak future for NZ and a harsh economic downturn. It also started to look like a very bleak reality for foreigners living in NZ. The ground was changing under our feet. 

The Government Subsidy: The Holy Grail

After I lost my job and Nick was hanging onto his by a thread, the government wage subsidy was announced. The wage subsidy meant that the NZ govt was paying the wages of many employees in the entire country with a check of $585 a week for five months (depending on if the employer qualified for each round of funding, which almost all businesses in Queenstown did). This way, my company could now support me and offered to through the subsidy. Nick too, was on the wage subsidy through his employer. 

During Covid, because of this incredibly compassionate and thoughtful policy, I was able to save money and support myself. I kept my job until my visa ran out because the government was able to pay my wage and I was compensated $12,870 overall (before tax) from March to August. Side note: as an unemployed American citizen, the country with the highest unemployment rate and most rampant Covid cases in the world, I was only offered a few random stimulus checks. 

Our visas expired on August 2, 2020. What did that mean? For me, an American, it means I needed to leave New Zealand or get on a new visa. For Nick, a Brit, that means he had the option to extend his Working Holiday Visa by one more year, just because he is English. NZ and England are both part of the commonwealth. Therefore, Nick applied to extend his visa and I debated what to do. 

The Beginning of the Visa Hunger Games

On July 29, 2020 Covid was not looking good so I took my chance by applying for a visitor visa. What’s the worst that could happen? All of August, I waited. I snowboarded each day and thoroughly enjoyed just relaxing with no real commitments. August felt like a vacation. On September 1st, I would start applying for jobs again and seek sponsorship. “Oh you’ll be fine in September, things will go back to normal…” people would say. “Okay great,” I thought. I wish I wasn’t so naive. 

The first round of visa extensions had come in March. Everyone’s visas that expired between April 1 – July 8 were extended to the end of September. Hang on… What if your visa expires on July 9… Or what if your visa ended anywhere between August – September 30? What do you do? You don’t get a free extension? Nope? I guess not.

Alright, I am a pretty smart girl and if all I need to do to get a visa is get a job, I can do that, right? Right! I hit the ground running and applied to every job in Queenstown on Seek and JobFix, weekly until the end of December. I liked to joke that I “finished” Seek. I didn’t hear back from anyone for months. 

The amount of jobs I applied to by December must have surpassed 1,000. I kid you not. I applied to be a dog-food brand copywriter, Lululemon sales woman, environmental scientist, chef, construction worker. You name it- I applied for it. 

Attempting to Work Online 

I got certified to Teach English to Speakers of Foreign Languages (TEFL-certified) during lockdown. “This will be so sick! I’ll make my own schedule, work in my pajamas, get loads of money, and meet incredible people. What could go wrong with being a digital nomad!” Well younger Sarah, I can think of a few things… 

When I first started teaching English, I had almost no clients and was making almost no money. I put my hourly rate at $12 an hour and planned to slowly creep it up once I attracted a large client base. Yikes. From September to December, I worked a total of 640 hours and I made a total of $2,000. This means I was making on average, $3 an hour, due to the policies of my contractor platform. Things were not looking good financially or with job prospects. In August, we switched apartments because we couldn’t afford our place anymore. We moved in with a friend as a temporary solution.

Applying to Every Job Imaginable 

From September 1st, I spent every day at home. I was not in lockdown. I was completely free, but mentally I was trapped. Every minute of the day that I wasn’t teaching English, I was refreshing job sites and applying to everything that came up. Still, getting no responses. Every day for 18 weeks straight, I sat at the computer sending out my CV. To Auckland, to Wellington, to Queenstown. I heard nothing back.

It was such a paradox. On one hand, I got to go snowboarding, see my friends, go outside, enjoy my life abroad and most importantly, be Covid free. On the other hand, I was feeling worthless, purposeless, like a waste of space. I was losing money everyday and feeling like I was pounding my head against a brick wall. And even when I was doing the fun things, I was thinking in the back of my head that I shouldn’t be spending money and I was constantly feeling guilty. 

In short: my mental health was deteriorating. 

Something needed to change. How the heck was I going to be able to stay here beyond my pending visitor visa? How was I going to afford it after I would dry up my savings? Was it worth it to spend all of my money to be Covid-free?

Free Visas for All! But Wait, Not Everyone… 

The second round of visa extensions was announced in September. Migrants on work visas were granted a free six-month extension and the conditions of the visas were relaxed. Visitors on visitor visas were granted a five-month extension. Usually visas cost a couple hundred dollars. Okay cool! What if Immigration has not processed your visa application yet, so you are not included in this extension?

What about if your visa already expired in August and you’re patiently waiting for Immigration to approve your visitor visa, but you actually would LOVE to get a work visa because your money is running out? Is there a number you can call? Oh, trust me, I tried.

“Kia Ora, this is Immigration New Zealand.” “Hey guys, I just missed the visa extension by a month, is there ANY WAY I can have my Working Holiday Visa extended to include my working rights?” “Ah that’s too bad, there’s nothing we can do about that.” 

Fighting to Stay In New Zealand

I submitted my application for my visitor visa in July and in November one night, I got an email from Immigration. Could this be it!?

“Kia Ora Sarah, Can you please provide us with additional evidence to support your visitor visa application?” 

Are. You. Kidding. Me.

I dropped my phone on the counter and started crying. I was exhausted and I simply couldn’t control myself or my emotions. It felt like a massive punch to the gut. I remember feeling like everything was completely out of my control. 

For the first time, I thought I might actually have to leave Queenstown, my friends and my life behind. And potentially move to a different country from my partner. After telling myself everything would work out for a year, and after strangers, friends, co-workers and Queenstown locals all telling me it would work out, it was so hard to flip the script. It wasn’t working out. I was watching it unfold and it wasn’t working in front of me. I couldn’t “just stay” or “just get a visa.” Clearly, with Covid, it wasn’t that easy anymore. 

Next, I met with an Immigration Advisor who helped me craft an email to Immigration and I got my visitor visa approved. Phew. I could breathe because at least I was now legally in the country not stuck in limbo between visas. Nick had gotten his second Working Holiday Visa approved so he was still able to work.

“Okay, we are here together and we’re Covid-free, but when can we see our families again? How is this going to be economically sustainable when only one of us has an income?” 

Riding the Changing Tides

After living with friends for around two months, we moved into our current place. From there, things started looking up. I started making more money teaching online and I was beginning to explore options outside of New Zealand. And by more money, I mean not $3 an hour. Nick was doing really well at work at his new job as a Painter/Decorator. 

Next, a third visa extension was announced. Migrant work visas would be extended further by another six-months. OH MY GOD! Does this mean Nick? Finally, finally, finally. We had already been left out of two visa extensions. For a few days we were elated, imagining spending another year in Queenstown (through Nick getting an extension and me getting on a partnership visa). We would finally be feeling secure. 

Randomly, I checked the fine print to make sure Nick’s visa was included. The extension was for visas expiring between January and June 30, 2021. His expires July 2, 2021. His visa didn’t make the cut by 3 days. We were back to square one. 

Not Giving Up Just Yet

In December, I wasn’t feeling as terrible as I was in November. I took a screenshot of the local job board offering 8 jobs. 8 JOBS. I sent it to my friends with a cheeky comment about my situation of being unemployed. Last year, there were nearly 200 jobs listed each week. Queenstown was the easiest place in the country to get a job. Walk into a cafe, and if they like you, you start that same day. 

I felt so hopeless. I also felt so guilty. “Okay, com’mon Sarah. You’re the luckiest person in the world to be healthy in beautiful New Zealand with your boyfriend who loves you and you have all of this free time! You’re in the only Covid free country in the world for god’s sake!! Have a good attitude!”

Another False Promise?

After I sent my sassy text joking about how I would never get a job, one of my friends texted me back and instructed me to send my CV over to her boss. I knew her company was looking for someone because I was obsessed with the job websites and I could tell you about every single job available in town. “But are they able to sponsor?” I asked. She wasn’t sure. 

I had heard this before. Every week in December I went to anywhere from 3-5 interviews. One for marketing an international clothing brand (they wouldn’t risk the sponsorship), one for a kitchenhand position (but they wanted me to do marketing at the wage of a kitchhand?), and many many many others that simply did not realize I didn’t have a visa or gave false hope of helping me obtain one… 

When she told me to send the CV, I didn’t think much of it. Within the hour, I heard back from the employer and he wanted to interview me for a position at the hotel. They had listed a housekeeping job for 4 weeks and almost no one had applied. Of the people who did apply, no one accepted the position. 

Why would this interview be different from the 20+ others I had had in December? I just could not believe anything would come of it. They needed a housekeeper ASAP because their entire team was leaving the country. They knew me and trusted me and if Immigration was allowing sponsorships, I would be a good fit for the job.

Spontaneously Leaving Holiday and Driving 6 Hours to the Interview

The hotel wanted to interview me the next morning. Nick and I were spending holiday on the West Coast but it wasn’t really going as planned. It’s hard to feel like you’re ever relaxed or on holiday when you’re constantly applying to jobs and obsessively checking your email. We weren’t really in “vacation mode.”

“You have nothing to lose,” Nick said as we drove 6 hours back to Queenstown to be there by morning for the interview. He was right. I arrived having had little sleep and then discussed the position with the team at the interview. 

Later that day, I got the call that I had received the job offer. I was so exhausted that I had no emotion left inside of me. I had deep deep gratitude but I could barely feel anything. I was numb and confused. My friend made a video of me receiving the news, and to be frank: through my smiling teeth, you could see relief on my face, but I didn’t look very amused. I would not be fooled about the promise of false sponsorship again. I would have to see it to believe it. I was jaded. 

The Waiting Game 

I assumed the visa would come back in 3-5 days because “housekeeper” was one of the jobs on the undersupply list in Queenstown – meaning, if people want to do the job, it’s much easier to get them a visa because there aren’t enough kiwis to fill those roles. Within receiving my job offer, it took me 24 hours to send off my visa application. It was go time. I had just driven across the country, interviewed, filled in the application and I was moving at 100mph. After I submit the visa, time slowed all the way down again. 

The first setback was the lack of evidence. My employer didn’t provide sufficient evidence according to Immigration (INZ), so INZ further questioned them. The second setback was getting a police certificate. I had to drive an hour away to get fingerprints done and spend money extra to expedite them to the US to verify I am not a criminal. The third setback was when Immigration asked for even more evidence as to why a New Zealander could not fill this role. Oh yeah, and I paid a non-refundable $700 total for the visa. Luckily, it would be worth every penny if it got granted, but there’s always the chance it wouldn’t. 

Almost two very slow months had gone by and I was so over it. I was constantly skeptical of the opportunity working out and I even started applying to jobs back in the US. Finally, I received my work visa but I was still emotionless. Whenever people get visas, they post cute selfies or even a photo of the visa proclaiming their love for New Zealand. I did too, more to notify everyone that it finally got approved so I wouldn’t have to keep awkwardly answering “no” to the question “Did you get your visa yet?” But it still just didn’t feel real. I tried to forcibly change my attitude.

The Moment That Was Supposed to Change Everything 

I kind of pictured the moment differently. Like much more fabulous and carefree and playful. Maybe when I got my visa it would be like one of those college acceptance videos I so distinctly remember watching in high school. The girl opens the acceptance letter, happens to be on camera and looking oh so fab, and SHOCKER, gets in her dream school! She’s screaming, she’s crying, she’s hugging her family. When I got into college, it was not anything like this. Why would getting a visa be? 

I imagined my friends and I would toast champagne to the end of my visa struggles and we would cheers to a future together in New Zealand. Yet, I wasn’t feeling celebratory. Getting the visa didn’t all of a sudden invalidate almost a year of unemployment. I definitely felt instantaneously more relaxed when the visa came through, but it was a complicated feeling. A feeling so complicated that it took a blog post the length of a novel to even attempt to describe… 

I was feeling incredibly defeated and exhausted like my whole future here was always in jeopardy and a constant battle. Why should I have to fight so hard to stay? Is it worth it? Early on during the uncertainty, one of my friends, an NZ citizen from Indonesia who has been here for 20 years, looked at me and said metaphorically, “Sarah, I can see you are bleeding. I can tell you are hurting and for anyone not to notice that, they just aren’t looking.” That’s when I knew this visa process would have to end at some point. It was time to take charge of my future again. 

I set out here with a backpack, a suitcase and my long-distance boyfriend, whom I had never lived in the same country with for more than the summer. I did not intend for any of this to happen, so how did I get so wrapped up in it? I have no idea. 

So, What Were You Doing All That Time When You Weren’t Working or Obsessively Applying to Jobs?

Good question. I did tons of wonderful things, met some incredible people and I learned so much. I had many wide-ranging and once-in-a-lifetime adventures. 

Most notably, I spearheaded creating a hip hop dance community and advanced hip hop crew in Queenstown that is the first of its kind. I met some of the most incredible and dedicated dancers and I even got to collaborate with my dream co-director. The crew has performed at different community events, worked on routines together, and even done a video shoot with a professional videographer.

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What started as a passion project continued as a well-known group around town. I went from showing up weekly at empty dance classes in Queenstown to creating a community where there’s a full room of people from different countries and dance abilities who just want to dance for the love of dancing. The best part about this group is that every week throughout this journey we came together and laughed, cried, smiled, screamed and sweat it all out together. It provided a sacred space over the last year. 

I found a new passion for teaching English online and made lifelong friends with my students from around the world. I learned about politics in Uzbekistan, women’s rights in Iran, music in Brazil, and life in Eritrea from my students. They’ve taught me about diverse topics such as religion, politics, and gender. We’ve had difficult conversations and they constantly inspire me everyday. I am forever grateful for my experience as a TEFL-teacher, even if I was only making $3 an hour. 

I discovered my passion for snowboarding and spent 40 days up the ski mountains. I became closer with my boyfriend and my group of friends. I learned about the different cultures of foreigners who live in Queenstown. I had the opportunity to travel to various parts of New Zealand while the rest of the world was stuck at home. I got to see world famous tourist attractions while they were almost empty. I got to live abroad for almost 1.5 years. I effectively got to escape Covid-19. 

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The Complexities of Living Abroad 

This year has been the most complex time of my life and it has been incredibly enriching and confusing and incredible and difficult. One of the most memorable years of my life for sure! This country has offered me numerous opportunities that I am beyond grateful for. I’ve hiked mountains, scrubbed toilets, flown in a helicopter, worked my first “real job” in marketing, jumped out of a plane, successfully transitioned from a long-distance to in-person relationship, trained with the best hip hop crew in the world in Auckland, stepped on a snowboard for the first time, and completed a half-marathon, just to name a few things. 

My visa was finally granted and it ends in August 2021, just exactly two years after our time in New Zealand began in August 2019. I wish I could wrap my time here into a neat box and tie a bow around it. Life is messy and if you were only seeing my infrequent Instagram posts, you would not be seeing the full picture. You’d just be seeing that cute, neat, and tightly wrapped little box with the bow on it. 

Sources
1. New Zealand Immigration Chronology, see 1986, 2001, and graphs
2. New Zealand Closes it’s Borders March 2020
3. New Zealand Repatriation Flights, December 2020
4. US State Department Tells US Citizens to Come Home, March 2020
5. China’s coronavirus lockdown strategy, March 2020
6. US Federal Government’s Coronavirus Response, March 2020
7. New Zealand Levels of Lockdown, March 2020
8. Additional guidelines for Lockdown, April 2020
9. 2020 Covid-19 Wage Subsidy, April 2020
10. Stimulus Checks US, 2021
11. First round of visa extensions, see Temporary visa holders
12. Second round of visa extensions, see July 2020, Employer-Assisted Work Visas and Visitor Visas
13. Third round of visa extensions, see December 2020, Employer-Assisted Work Visas
14. Jobs on the undersupply list in Queenstown, October 2020