Are you an expat living in New Zealand?

Expat Arrivals is looking for locals to contribute to this guide, and answer forum questions from others planning their move to New Zealand. Please contact us if you'd like to contribute.

There’s no one-size-fits-all rule for settling into expat life in a new country, but here are a few helpful articles and personal stories that may help make your move a little easier.

Interview with Micheal and Mary Kay – American expats living in New Zealand

Micheal and Mary Kay Kidd are hoteliers. They met 42 years ago at a California guest ranch. He, a bellman and she, a desk clerk, fell in love with the hotel business and each other. They eventually founded a Californian hotel company, renovating hotels. Twenty years ago, their oldest children came… Read more

Interview with Savannah – a South African expat living in New Zealand

Savannah is a 22-year-old student, born and raised in South Africa. She left Cape Town when she was 19 to travel and live abroad. The following year, in 2019, she packed her bags and made the move to Wellington, New Zealand to study and has lived there since. About Savannah Q: Where are you… Read more

Interview with Steph – an American expat living in New Zealand

Steph left her 20+ year IT career and sold her cars, house and almost everything she owned to move to Costa Rica to work with wild animals. Somehow, it led her to New Zealand where she’s claimed permanent residency after 5 years. Follow along with her life in Waipukurau on her blog. Read more… Read more

Interview with Jared – an American expat living in New Zealand

After some years spent teaching English in Japan, Jared, an American expat, moved to rural New Zealand with his partner CJ. Since then, they've shed their city skins, rolled up their sleeves and have built their own stretch of paradise on a farm an hour outside of Wellington.Read about Jared's… Read more

Interview with Eve – an American expat in New Zealand

Eve Brickner, an American expat, moved to New Zealand with her partner in 2017. A great lover of the outdoors, Eve enjoys exploring her new home's sublime countryside. Read about her life, as well as some of her tips and guides to living in New Zealand on her blog, Adventures with Pete.Read more… Read more

Interview with Betty – an American expat living in New Zealand

Betty left her home in Holton, Kansas USA, to visit her future husband in New Zealand in 2006. They married the next year in New Plymouth “amid family, a few friends and a host of seals and seagulls”.Betty enjoys nature and sharing inspirational words as well as titbits of wisdom. She has taken… Read more

An interview with Dawn and Isaac – two British expats living in New Zealand

Isaac and Dawn left England to start their new lives in Auckland, in 2014. Here they share their experiences of life in New Zealand, and how it differs to England. Dawn's blog Going NZ is a useful resource for expats looking to move or already living in the land of the Kiwis, and the Twitter… Read more

Interview with Rhonda – an American living in New Zealand

Rhonda Albom, an American who relocated to New Zealand in 2003, shares her experiences. Having moved with her husband and young children, she talks about the advantages and occasional drawbacks she has experienced in the Land of the Kiwis. You can read more about her experiences on her blog Albom… Read more

Interview with Abigail – a Brit living in New Zealand

Abigail immigrated to New Zealand from England with her family at the age of ten. She shares her experiences of growing up as an expat child. Her candidly amusing answers reveal how she has not shaken off her British humour, despite living in New Zealand since 2001. Find her on Twitter @… Read more

Interview with Jimmy – an American expat in Auckland

Jimmy is a self-proclaimed country boy who followed his sweetheart to New Zealand from North Carolina. The sweetheart left but he found a new love: the city of Auckland itself. Read all about his experiences of moving to Auckland below.Read more about New Zealand in the Expat Arrivals New Zealand… Read more

Interview with Pierre – a South African Expat Living in New Zealand

Pierre Moseley is a South African expat who moved to New Zealand in 2008, after living in Namibia for a few years. He works in the electronic security industry, but can't say too much about that.After taking a few years to get used to the weather, the cold houses and missing family, he has adapted… Read more

Interview with Fiona Gilston – a Scottish expat living in New Zealand

Fiona Gilston is a Scottish expat living in New Zealand. She moved to Christchurch in search of a change from her life in Scotland, and with no specific plans on where to settle, she met a Kiwi and has now made Christchurch her home. Fiona has come to love Christchurch and the more relaxed… Read more

Interview with Sarah – a British expat living in Queenstown, New Zealand

Sarah Robertson, a young British expat from London, moved to Queenstown in New Zealand in 2011 with her partner. While she acknowledges that the cost of living in Queenstown is relatively high, she enjoys the quality of life in Queenstown and the Kiwi philosophy of 'work to live not live to work'.… Read more

Interview with Diane – an American expat in Wellington

Diane is an American expat from New Jersey, USA. She has spent the last decade as a serial expat – first studying in Berlin and Amsterdam, and finally settling with her Welsh husband in Wellington, New Zealand.Read more about New Zealand in the Expat Arrivals New Zealand country guide or read more… Read more

Interview with Wendy – a British expat living in New Zealand

Wendy is a British expat who has moved home with her family several times in the last decade.Read more about New Zealand in the Expat Arrivals New Zealand country guide or read more expat experiences in New Zealand.About WendyQ: Where are you originally from?A: I was born and raised on the… Read more

Advice for moving to New Zealand

South African expat Garret Horwitz shares a few tips for prospective expats looking to move to New Zealand. We have been living in New Zealand for 18 years now. It has been wonderful and frightening, glorious and lonely, home and so damn far away from anywhere else. But after a long… Read more

Interview with Molly – an American expat living in New Zealand

Molly, an American expat living in New Zealand, has found it challenging to deal with the distance of her new life from her Alaskan hometown and adjust to a space without access to the mountains she feels closest to. She chronicles the complexities of her journey and the highs and lows of her time… Read more

Interview with Whitney – an American expat living in New Zealand

Whitney, an American expat living in New Zealand, is no stranger to relocation. She opted to settle into student life in Christchurch and has found simple pleasure in the pairing of small-town living and mid-sized city infrastructure.  Read more about New Zealand in the Expat Arrivals New… Read more

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