Radio NZ - Americans moving to NZ has doubled

After moving her family of six from Wisconsin to New Zealand in 2013, Tara Holbert made a career for herself as a moving consultant.

She says what was commonly assumed that political crises and leadership changes ignite interest in New Zealand.

From her observation, those are really the sole reason that prompts people to get onto that long-haul flight.

And New Zealand immigration has opened up.

Like when I moved, there was three options.

And if you didn't fit within those boxes, you weren't moving.

Now it's like way opened up.

It gets clouded a little bit because there's like political changes and then people like, you know, knee jerk reactions.

Like I had about 500 people sign up for my webinars after Trump was elected both times.

And so there's a little bit of that, but nobody's moving across the world because of a knee-jerk reaction.

This is something that everybody's thought of for a long time.

Her business helps those looking to move solve all sorts of problems, from visa applications to moving pets.

Tara says business tripled in 2025, and 2026 is also looking strong.

She says New Zealand has many draw cards for Americans.

I would say most

of the time it's pace and lifestyle.

There's a hustle work life in the US and burnout is real, especially in certain industries of health care and different things.

And they're looking for work life balance, which as an American who's lived in New Zealand, it's it's real.

And they're also looking for safety for kids.

You know, they don't have to worry about guns at school, you know.