New Zealand Changes Golden Visa To Lure Wealthy Migrants

New Zealand is revising its Active Investor Plus Visa by eliminating the English language need and other investment barriers to attract affluent investors. The updated vis program, effective April 1, introduces two investment categories and loosens stay requirements, looking to boost the nation's economic recovery.

New Zealand is simplifying its so-called golden visa program, including removing the English language need to attract wealthy immigrants and help spark an economic recovery. From April 1, the Active Investor Plus Visa will be narrowed to just two categories while the scope of acceptable investments will be expanded, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said Sunday in Auckland. She said that as well as dropping the language test, other potential barriers to investment, such as the amount of time investors must stay in the country, will also be adjusted.

After a sharp recession in 2024, the New Zealand government wants to capitalize on falling interest rates to lift economic performance but has acknowledged it lacks the necessary capital. It is reworking foreign investment regulations, creating a single agency to act as a one-stop shop for overseas fund managers, and easing rules to allow visitors to work remotely, hoping that might encourage highly skilled people to relocate permanently.

"Capital is highly mobile, and in an increasingly complex world, people are looking for a safe and stable country to do business," Stanford said. "We are now making our investor visa simpler and more flexible to incentivize investors to choose New Zealand as a destination."

The Active Investor Plus visa successfully lures wealthy individuals to New Zealand and raked in an average of NZ USD 1 billion a year. Still, it has languished after rule changes in late 2022. Just 43 applications have been fully approved since those adjustments were made, equating to NZ USD 545 million of nominated investment funds, according to data from Immigration New Zealand. The amount of money across the border was significantly less than the government said today.

The new program will have two categories-

• Growth or higher-risk visa holders must spend just 21 days in the country, directly into businesses or managed funds, requiring a minimum investment of NZ USD 5 million over three years.
• Balanced or mixed risk requires a minimum of NZ USD10 million invested over five years into bonds, stocks, and new property development, including residential or existing commercial and industrial property. Holders must spend at least 105 days in the country, but they can reduce the period by investing above the minimum.

By offering an option for low-risk investors, the program will be attractive to a broader group of people rather than just focusing on those with a high-risk appetite, Stanford said, adding there is already a large amount of interest from applicants that had been generated during consultations with the industry.

New Zealand's easing of its investor visa rules comes when many other nations end theirs. Spain will end its golden visa program on April 3, while the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Greece and Malta have either finished or tightened the rules around their golden visa or equivalent policies.

The Australian government has effectively scrapped its Significant Investor visa class, which was available for arrivals who invested more than USD 5 million, over concerns that wealthy individuals had abused it to buy property or financial assets without contributing significantly to the economy's productive parts.  

Marcus Beveridge, a business migration specialist and managing director at Queen City Law in Auckland, welcomed the changes as well overdue and predicted they will give New Zealand's sluggish residential property market a shot in the arm.

"Over the last couple of decades, every time we do something like this, the property market pricks up," he said. "It is not so much about huge numbers coming across the border, but what happens is that the cash investment primes the pumps, and our local market takes off."

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