Many migrant workers in the region were able to secure five-year working visas, but they often feared being sent home the minute the visa ended.
Work visa holder Sofia Araya, who has lived in Wānaka for six years, said she had struggled trying to stay in New Zealand.
The former Chilean journalist said she wanted to get her residency and keep building a life in the resort town but was unsure about the future.
"I want to get my residence, but with that visa I can’t, because a housekeeper, for immigration, is nothing," she said.
She is on a sponsored work visa with the Edgewater Hotel.
Another Wānaka work visa holder, who asked to remain anonymous, uprooted her life in Belgium, only to have difficulties staying in New Zealand.
She arrived a year ago on a working holiday visa, thinking she would only stay for a short time but loved her life here.
Her visitor visa would run out in three weeks, and her new sponsored work visa had not been approved.
"If it doesn’t work, I might just have to pick up all of my stuff and go within a day.
"You can’t really sleep well because you never know when your right to stay will be revoked."
Statistics from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show that there are about 2302 accredited employer work visa (AEWV) holders working in the region for 509 accredited employers.
Wānaka had 178 new AEW visa holders over the 2024-25 financial year and a total of 658 holders since 2022.
Since 2022 4977 visas have been approved largely in hospitality, construction, retail, tourism, transportation and logistics, health, education, primary industry, and information and communications technology.
Immigration lawyer Daniel Nimmo said the Queenstown Lakes district had a certain appeal for potential migrants.
"It’s the lifestyle. And if they’ve got young children, for instance, depending what country they’re from, the education system may not be as good as in New Zealand."
He said the best way to be accepted on a work visa was the green light list: a list of skills and occupations in demand, offering a pathway for skilled workers to move here.
But New Zealand’s immigration system could be complicated.
There was a lot of information that was not clear and a lot of cases were "quite complex".
Not only did this extend the process, it also meant several hundred dollars were added to the existing cost of a visa application, he said.
