As Covid-19 cases have risen overseas so has the desire of doctors to come to New Zealand's shores.
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Medical recruitment agencies have seen huge demand from people wanting to move to the country, mostly from the US and UK.
Figures from Immigration New Zealand showed from 18 October to 10 August there were 80 doctors from India who were granted a critical purpose visa as a health worker, 74 from the UK, 42 from the Philippines, 26 from the US and 24 from South Africa.
Work-life balance, outdoor activities, a safer covid climate and a different politics scene were all factors international doctors were chasing.
NZDr is a New Zealand-based medical recruitment agency that supplies all district health boards with specialists and GPs.
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Martin King is a licensed immigration advisor for the agency, he said New Zealand's covid response had resonated with the rest of the world and it showed in the demand to move over, particularly from the US.
"Probably seen about 100 percent increase over the last six months, previously we would've been seeing about 20 percent from the US and we're currently seeing about 80 percent."
To start the moving process you need a job offer to clear your medical registration and then you can apply for border entry.
For some specialists it would take up to six months to apply for their medical registration.
Martin said the steps and restrictions in place were why he thought immigration statistics didn't reflect the influx of doctors in the moving process.
And with 25 percent of GPs due to retire in the next ten years, according to data from the Royal New Zealand College of GPs, he said there's an increasing gap in our medical sector.
"Somewhere between 40-50 percent of our specialist doctors were actually trained overseas, there's a group of doctors that are actually getting to that retirement age, we've only got so many graduates that we can bring through ourselves."
America is in a severe battle with Covid-19. It became the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the third wave of the Covid-19 virus surges across the nation.
Health workers were feeling it most.
Dr Tracy Parish is an emergency medicine doctor and medical director for several urgent care facilities and two covid testing stations in North Carolina.
"What we've been in which is just this gruelling, I can't even really describe it I'm just done, I'm burnt out I can't do this anymore."
She's had her eye on New Zealand since medical school but says Covid-19 was the catalyst to make the decision.
"So we don't have a national healthcare system and because of covid there are so many things that I want to do different that would be more efficient, that would be safer for staff and patients, but we are even reluctant to do [those] because of financial issues."
Politics was also another deciding factor.
"President Trump directly addressed physicians taking care of covid patients saying that we were basically cooking the numbers to get money. When he says something like that, I don't even know how to respond to that."
Dr Steyn Lottering from South Africa echoed her concern.
"The biggest reason why a lot of South Africans do immigrate is safety concern, crime rate and also political stability."
He completed isolation with his fiancé who's a registered nurse, before starting new jobs in Hawke's Bay.
After a whirlwind year for them both they were finally able to get flights and took the leap.
"There was a lot of obstacles in our way it would've been a much shorter process if it wasn't for covid, you know all the countries just locked up suddenly so it was difficult to get flights and then we both actually had covid earlier this year."
The UK has started its second lockdown with more than one million cases recorded and 47,000 deaths.
Sally Thompson is a GP at a medical centre in Carlisle, she accepted a job in Wainuiomata starting in the next few months.
After the centre in Carlisle was sold she decided to bite the bullet. An increasing workload and covid were consuming her time.
"I found that more and more I felt like I'm working longer hours and have less and less time."
She said the job prospect would get her through the lockdown but the main thing she was looking forward to was hugging her Kiwi friend on New Zealand soil.
"It is giving me a buoyancy that I think perhaps I wouldn't have if I didn't know I was coming to New Zealand.
"I've got an old friend who lives near where I'm moving getting to see her and be able to give her a hug, I've not been able to give any one a hug for eight months now."