Our customers have had success in attracting seasonal workers to NZ. They are doing this by targeting the top ten Working Holiday Visa (WHV) countries with their digital recruitment advertising. So we wanted to share this data more widely to encourage others to target these working holiday makers (or backpackers) to do the same.
Before the Covid border closures, we would welcome around 50,000 working holiday makers to NZ each year. Along with locals and RSE workers, this group is a critical part of NZ’s seasonal horticultural workforce. But while WHV caps have been increased and applications have been approved at unprecedented rates (nearly 75,000 approved in 2022), we’re still only seeing about 60-70% of the pre-Covid numbers actually in NZ.
In this infographic, you’ll see the top ten WHV countries with Germany, United Kingdom and France way out in front. The chart on the right-hand side shows the relative number of WHVs approved by country. We have determined the top ten based on the five years pre-Covid (2015-2019) and shown the comparison with the WHVs approved in 2022.
Or download the infographic as a pdf:
These top ten countries are all worth targeting for seasonal workers. You could also consider other countries that have unlimited visas or those where their visa cap is still not filled.
We have set out below:
those countries which have unlimited visas available (which includes nine of the top ten)
those that have a limited amount of visas available (capped) but are still open
those that should not be targeted because their limited amount (quota) has been filled and they are closed until the date listed
Working Holiday Visa scheme status by country
Open Unlimited | Open Limited | Closed Limited |
Belgium | Croatia | Argentina (14 Sep 23) |
Canada | Czech Republic | Austria (11 May 2023) |
Denmark | Estonia | Brazil (10 Oct 23) |
Finland | Israel | Chile (19 Oct 23) |
France | Latvia | China (1 Aug 23) |
Germany | Lithuania | Hong Kong (28 Mar 23) |
Ireland | Luxembourg | Hungary (27 Apr 23) |
Italy | Malta | Malaysia (no date) |
Japan | Poland | Mexico (28 Feb 23) |
Netherlands | Portugal | Peru (3 Oct 23) |
Norway | Singapore | Philippines (16 Mar 23) |
Sweden | Slovenia | Slovakia (4 May 2023) |
United Kingdom | South Korea | Uruguay (2 Nov 23) |
United States of America | Spain | Vietnam (no date) |
​ | Taiwan | ​ |
​ | Thailand | ​ |
​ | Turkey | ​ |
WHV status as at 21 February 2023. Top ten in bold. Dates are when the WHV Scheme re-opens for that country.
We hope you’ve found this information valuable and it helps you to attract seasonal workers from other countries.
If you’d like to keep up-to-date with the Working Holiday Visa numbers coming into NZ, please subscribe to our monthly seasonal hiring tips and insights.
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