It's been dubbed the "brain-gain" as huge numbers of young New Zealanders at the height of their careers overseas are packing their bags to flee home to Aotearoa amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
A new survey by expat Kiwi network Kea shows 250,000 Kiwis plan on returning home within the next two years, while a further 250,000 are predicted to follow in the years after.
Young technolgoy expert Anthony McGuire is one of them, and this morning told TVNZ1's Breakfast he feels "pretty privileged and grateful" to be back in New Zealand at this tumultuous time in the world.
McGuire, who has worked at Facebook managing global brand partnerships, as well as other other start ups, has been back for around two months after spending the past six years working in London.
"It's kind of dark out there," he described the rest of the world.
"A lot of stuff went wrong from a business perspective with my company, I had to shut it down because of Covid. My flatmates all seem to be leaving the country."
England is currently in a Covid-19 lockdown and the United Kingdom has had nearly 1.2 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 49,000 deaths.
But now McGuire is back in New Zealand, he plans to reinvest in this home country.
"I thought that I'd come back to New Zealand, reset for like a month or two but as time's gone on I've realised this is a pretty special place to be in the world and I think I want to reinvest in the country that I come from and be here for the long term."
With no regrets, McGuire told Breakfast he made a good decision, and that his friends in London, San Francisco and New York all want to get into our country too.
"I think that there's a very special time that New Zealand has right now from a business perspective, social perspective, international leadership perspective, that I feel pretty privileged and grateful to be in a place like this right now," he said.
McGuire admitted he has more connections outside New Zealand, but after spending time with family on the Kapiti Coast he plans to move to Auckland early next year to make some friends and build a business network here.
Kea chief executive Toni Truslove, also on Breakfast, said returnees like McGuire bring enormous global experience, perspective and progressive views.
She expects more people at the top of their game in technology, construction, healthcare and education sectors to make the move home.
"It's a huge win for New Zealand," she said.
"Looking at migration patterns, ordinarily, we don't get these Kiwis home who are at the absolute height of their career like Anthony.
"They tend to stay overseas, they may come home for their retirement, but the silver lining for Covid for New Zealand is that we are seeing this amazing brain-gain, these really successful Kiwis who have built lives and careers overseas coming back to New Zealand at the top of their game.
"Kea is really keen to see how New Zealand as a country can land this opportunity."
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