Anneke Smith
Auckland, February 9, 2025
The government is overhauling its ‘Golden Visa’ scheme to lure wealthy investors to New Zealand.
The Active Investor Plus Visa gives wealthy foreigners residency if they directly invest in local companies, rather than in shares or bonds.
It had relatively little uptake since it was overhauled by the former Labour government in July 2022.
Three Categories of Investment
This afternoon (on February 9, 2025) Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced that his government was making changes to modernise the visa settings and attract foreign investment.
Editor’s Note: The Meeting was held at Cordis Auckland under the auspices of
From 1 April, the Active Investor Plus Visa will be replaced with two, simplified investment categories.
The first, ‘The Growth’ category, will focus on higher-risk investments, including direct investments in New Zealand businesses. It will require a minimum investment of $5 million for a minimum period of three years.
The second, ‘The Balanced’ category, will focus on mixed investments, with the ability to choose ones that are lower risk. There will be a minimum investment of $10 million over five years.
English Language requirement goes
Other changes include expanding the scope of acceptable investments and removing potential barriers to investment, like the English language requirement.
“For way too long New Zealand has put up the shutters on investment. We have been reluctant to recognise the benefits for Kiwis from attracting overseas investment to this country and there are billions of dollars in capital out there that investors are looking to find a home for,” Mr Luxon said.
Immigration lawyer Nick Mason has previously criticised the current iteration of the investor scheme, saying that New Zealand was missing out on investment.
Mr Luxon announced the new changes in the presence of Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay, Economic Growth and Social Investment Minister Nicola Wills and Education and Immigration Minister Nicola Willis.
Ms Willis welcomed the changes, saying that there was a massive amount of capital, hundreds of millions if not billions, not coming into New Zealand.
Dismal performance since 2022
“Unfortunately, changes made to the Active Investor Plus Visa category by the previous government had the effect of discouraging potential investors from seeking New Zealand residence. Since 2022, migrants entering New Zealand under the AIP category have invested just $70 million. By contrast, in the two years before Covid-19 migrants invested $2.2 billion,” she said.
According to Ms Willis, rather than turning potential investors away, this government is intent on welcoming people who want to contribute to New Zealand. We are already making it easier for digital nomads to work remotely while visiting here and have established Invest New Zealand to promote investment into this country,” she said.
Ms Stanford said that capital was highly mobile and in an increasingly complex world, people were looking for a safe and stable country to do business.
“We are now making our investor visa simpler and more flexible to incentivise investors to choose New Zealand as a destination not just for their capital, skills and international connections, but to build a life for themselves and their family here,” she said.
Anneke Smith is a Political Reporter at Radio New Zealand. The above Report has been published under a special agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
Background to the Changes
Amy Williams (RNZ)
Immigration lawyers are worried about a dramatic drop in the number of millionaires receiving so-called golden visas.
The visa category gives wealthy investors residence in New Zealand but was overhauled in July 2022 to encourage direct investment in local companies. Since then just 20 people have received the Active Investor Plus visas, down from a couple of hundred a year under the previous scheme.
The approved foreign millionaires had invested $17 million in New Zealand by the end of January – half directly in local companies, the rest in managed funds and the share market.
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise said that another 31 applications were under consideration, most from North America and Europe.
That was a change from the previous scheme, which attracted mostly Chinese investors. The change in demographics was due in part to stricter English language requirements.
Immigration lawyer Nick Mason said it was a stark drop and New Zealand was missing out on investment.
“There is a massive amount of capital that is not coming into New Zealand, certainly hundreds of millions if not cracking into the billions.”
He said that the new investor category was too difficult to navigate.
“If you have investors looking at options, they are going to go for an easier option; they are going to go for Canada. Once I have explained to them what is involved they have gone cold pretty quickly. It needs to be borne in mind that these people have options and New Zealand is just one of those, Mr Mason said.
Why the Scheme failed
The Active Plus Golden Visa opened in September 2022. Applicants have to invest at least $15 million over three years, or $5 million if the funds go directly to a New Zealand business.
At the time, the then-Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash said that the previous visa categories attracted more than $12 billion over 10 years but much of it was passive investment in shares and bonds.
Marcus Beveridge from Auckland’s Queen City Law said that the country needed investment, but the tap had been turned off.
“It is basically a massive decline in interest in New Zealand and the rules are seen as too cumbersome and too difficult and having a direct investment of $5 million into New Zealand business is seen as too risky,” he said.
Australia shut down its investor visa earlier this year (2024) and Mr Beveridge said that could have resulted in more interest in New Zealand.
“It is a real pity because if we have played our cards right we could have had, not a tsunami, but a large number of entrepreneurs and millionaires coming into the country at a time when we are in a difficult economic situation. We can turn that tap on and we can turn it off. If we turn it on we will get a large number of applicants coming through again,” he said.
The China Equation
Mr Beveridge asked, “Given that China comprised over 90% of that market, the question is do we want that again and if so what can we do with that money?”
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise General Manager of Investment Dylan Lawrence said that the numbers were actually on track.
He said the scheme aimed for 50 new investors each year, investing about half a billion dollars in the country.
“This is like the emergence of a new billion-dollar fund into the market and for the benefit of New Zealand businesses. If we are able to replicate that every year to two years then we are going to see a considerable lift in the impact on New Zealand businesses from this visa,” he said.
Mr Lawrence said that the difference between the current scheme and the previous one was where the money was going.
“It is more complex because we are asking the investors to invest into managed funds, into direct investments, as opposed to just putting them in passive vehicles like bonds. We are also asking them to have a greater understanding of the English language so that they can also provide value and contribute to the businesses into which they are investing.”
The Value of Immigration
Mr Lawrence that he meant the right investors were being approved.
“We believe that New Zealand residency is something that should be cherished and not sold cheaply and we want to bring investors in that align with the values of the country and the intent that we’re trying to achieve and help grow economic prosperity for all New Zealanders,” he said.
However, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said that the drop in wealthy investors wanting to move here was a concern.
“It is particularly concerning to me that we have had numbers of investors drop off a cliff and we need to get those numbers up again so there’ll be some work done around that,” she said.
The timing is uncertain for any changes to the Investor Visa. Stanford has already announced reforms to family visas this term, and changes to the beleaguered Accredited Employer Worker Visa scheme.
Amy Willims is a Journalist at Radio New Zealand. The above Report has been published under a special agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
