Working holiday scheme with Vietnam proposed by New Zealand government

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully made the working holiday comments at a speech in the Vietnam National University in Hanoi.

"Already upward of 1000 New Zealand tourists visit Vietnam each month. I hope that in the future we will see the tourist flow increase in the other direction too," he said.

Mr McCully’s speech marked the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and coincided with Vietnam assuming the chair of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the East Asia Summit.

The new free trade agreement between Asean, Australia, and New Zealand offers the countries benefits through liberalisation of trade in goods, services and investment, reducing tariffs and boosting the movement of people between treaty partners.

The agreement would also open up New Zealand immigration to chefs and engineering professionals looking to work in New Zealand for up to three years.

The New Zealand Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with their New Zealand Visa applications to the New Zealand Embassy.