The price of a New Zealand working holiday visa will increase from $245 to $420 at the end of this month.
The 71 per cent price increase is part of an overall increase to immigration fees and levies, which affects most visa applications.
According to the Immigration New Zealand website, the average increase of affected immigration services is around $81, or 43 per cent.
Only 1100 working holiday visa holders have entered New Zealand since March, but a further 14,000 applications have been approved.
Speaking to AM on Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she doesn’t believe the price increase will deter people from applying for a working holiday visa.
“We did a comparison of other countries to check that our working holiday visa costs were not prohibitive relative to other countries,” says Ardern.
“All I can feed back is that compared to other countries we are very competitive here.”
When getting feedback, Ardern says no visa application holders or hopefuls have noted the cost of fees as a reason to not come to New Zealand.
“I have not heard that feedback. If businesses have experienced that they are welcome to share that with us but we were very, very careful to compare ourselves to other [countries].”
