February 8, 2025 • 7 mins
This afternoon the Prime Minister announced New Zealand will be relaxing immigration settings for investors.
Two new immigration categories will be created to encourage wealthy foreigners to invest in Kiwi businesses.
Investors will need to invest a minimum of $5 million over three years, or $10 million over five years.
The visa's English language requirement will also be stripped, which Luxon claimed had scared off potential investors.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
You will have heard the announcement on the news as
the Prime Minister has announced that New Zealand will be
relaxing immigration settings for investors, well something like that. Anyway,
they're basically trying to simplify things so they can entice
more investment into New Zealand. They're going to create two
new immigration categories to encourage wealthy foreigners to invest in
Kiwi businesses. Investors all need a minimum of five million
(00:33):
and three years, or ten million over five years. The
visa's English language requirement will also be removed, which Luxen
has claimed is scared off potential investors. And to join
us from ZB political editor Jason Wall's good.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Afternoon, Oh, good afternoon, Tim.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
You might not have heard the chat I just had
with Matthew Horncastle from William's Corps about property of announcements,
and he just offered the casual announcement. He said, it
sounds like something that already exists already. Is there less
to this announcement than meets the.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, we're going to have to find that out over
the next couple of days. I mean, there has been
some chat behind the scenes over the past week that
there was something coming to do with foreign investors coming
into New Zealand. I mean it's no surprise in the
sense that Nikola Willis and the Prime Minister have been
saying for weeks now that we need to grow the pie,
we need to grow, we need to grow. In fact,
(01:26):
every question we ask them it seems to end with
them talking about how we need to grow. And this
is a good way for an economy to grow. Essentially,
I mean, you import your capital in the form of
rich people. Now people want to come to New Zealand.
That is something that we know for sure because we're
an attractive destination, not just because we're a beautiful country,
but also because we're a relatively modern, good place who's
(01:49):
business with So of course we want to allow more
capital into the country. And that's just what the Prime
Minister seems to have done today and Erica Stamford as
well in terms of relaxing some of these requirements. The
questions that I have in this and the questions that
I'll be taking into this week, is what what happens
to the foreigners that want to buy homes? You know,
if it's all well and good to come here with
your millions of dollars, but if you can't buy a
(02:11):
home here, it doesn't really matter. Now that might be
buried somewhere in the detail today. We'll have to wait
and see. But there is still quite a bit to
get through in terms of the details of this one.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Now, look, there are probably a few curve bore questions
in here for you. But so Luxelm talked about up
to in the two years prior to COVID, migrants invested
two point two billion, and then since twenty twenty two
it's only seventy million. Was that I mean that was
that simply related to changing the rules? What were the
I'm just curious to know if the rules were a
(02:41):
lot different at that, you know, from those two periods.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, well, I mean the National Party, well I should
call them the government absolutely thinks that it is. But
they have this convenient habit of forgetting about COVID nineteen. Now,
although in their press release, in the stories and the speeches,
they did mention before COVID and after COVID, but it
did a massive amount of damage to a lot of
people from all around the world. We're starting to recover now. Yes,
but it's no prize that we've seen such a drop
(03:07):
off in investment capital because of the impact that COVID
had on many people. But you'd have to look at
those two numbers. Two I think it was two point
two billion dollars before Covida, seventy million after COVID. There
is a lot that needs to be explained, because that's
can't just be put down to COVID nineteen and investors
getting cold feet, because.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
There is something in the press release that I'll read
to you which you will have no doubt read. But
basically one of the sentence says talking about making the
investor visa simpler, and it's talking about attracting capital, skills
and international connections. And here's the bit that got my
I wouldn't say my hackles, but got my antenna up
a little bit. It says, but to build a life
for themselves and their family. Here seys Immigration Minister Erica Stanford,
(03:52):
which does imply they're going to make it easier to
become a resident. And therefore that maybe that's why Winston's
been making these noises about easing the restrictions on foreign
bars book because it's going to be done.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Anyway, Yeah, I mean the Prime Minister was talking about
that on Tuesday, and then Hosking had Winston on on Friday,
and Winston was sounding very sympathetic to this and saying, well,
if it is if they're bringing money into the country,
then of course this is something that we're going to
look at. And then he went on to say that
they've always thought this and it's always been a policy
of theirs, which I had to scratch my head out
a little bit. It all seems to be sort of
(04:29):
falling into place in the way that the government have
seen it. I mean, I know that Nikola Willis and
the Prime Minister would have much liked Winston to come
to this conclusion before the coalition talks, so they could
have immediately reversed the foreign owner's ban and started getting
some of the tax in. But better late than never.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They're probably thinking, do you get the sense that their
investors just dying to put money in here and I funny,
we've make the rules simpler or is this just a
little bit of honey to attract them and to try
and get that conversation going with foreign investors.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, I mean, and I hate this answer when everybody
gives it the time will tell right. We need to
actually be able to see what it is that foreigners want.
Every time I've gone overseas with the Prime Minister, and
it's been quite a lot, he always talks about how
foreign companies and investors are crying out for investment into
New Zealand, but they just need ways of investing and
things to invest in. And so I mean this answers
(05:24):
one of those questions. It makes it easier for them
to invest in New Zealand. But the other question is
what exactly are they going to buy is another question entirely,
and I'm not really sure. I mean, you can, you know,
buy into some New Zealand businesses, you can, you can
carve up some New Zealand land if you're allowed to
do that. But at the end of the day, I mean,
look at all of our listed company or companies that
are listing. They're going over to Australia, you know. I mean,
(05:45):
there still might be based here, there's a lot of
operations here. But it's just a fact. As the matter is,
it's just not as attractive to be a business in
New Zealand now as it was maybe ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Some might have described US as having sold citizenship to
Peter Tail for around fifty million bucks. Is it fair
to say we've announcements just basically just lowered the price
for it.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Well, it depends how you want to skin a cat.
I mean, at the end of the day, if the
ends justify the means, If this makes us a richer,
more prosperous country for everybody, then have at it. But
if it doesn't do that, and we're just essentially, like
you're saying, selling citizenship to the highest bidder, it's probably
a bad idea. And that's why there is a number
of checks and balances in place here in terms of
the minimum investment requirement over three and five years and
(06:30):
a number of other things as well. And you can
bet your bottom dollar that the government will be keeping
a very close eye on these people to make sure
that they are actually investing what they said that they
were going to.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I guess you've said you've had the benefit of the
seeing the bit of the stand up and some of
the questions, but Chase the one page of the press
release and the bit of information around it. I looked
at and thought, God, there's not much this. So just
as if you were a gambling man, is this going
to be more Do you think this is more going
to be about form or is there going to be
some real substance that's going to make a difference here.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, I mean again, we'll have to see how many
people apply. The government can talk about this and make
announcements so they're blue in the face. If nobody actually
comes through, then it's a failure. But if people start
to come through and they start investing money in New Zealand,
then absolutely it's fantastic. I think the government does have
a bit of work to do in try basically heralding
(07:21):
these investments when they're made and saying this is something
that only happened because of our changes to the immigration setting.
And the one thing that I I mean, listen, I
have a lot of cracks at the lux And government.
I had a lot of cracks at the Art Durned government.
The thing that I will give to the Luxan government
is they're very, very very good at trumpeting their own successes.
So if it's working, I'm pretty sure we're going to
(07:41):
hear about it.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Indeed, Hi, thanks very much for your time, Jackson. I
let you get back to it and we'll look forward
talking again Thanks Matt Cheers. That is Jason Will's in
News Talks B political editor.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talks It'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
You will have heard the announcement on the news as
the Prime Minister has announced that New Zealand will be
relaxing immigration settings for investors, well something like that. Anyway,
they're basically trying to simplify things so they can entice
more investment into New Zealand. They're going to create two
new immigration categories to encourage wealthy foreigners to invest in
Kiwi businesses. Investors all need a minimum of five million
(00:33):
and three years, or ten million over five years. The
visa's English language requirement will also be removed, which Luxen
has claimed is scared off potential investors. And to join
us from ZB political editor Jason Wall's good.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Afternoon, Oh, good afternoon, Tim.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
You might not have heard the chat I just had
with Matthew Horncastle from William's Corps about property of announcements,
and he just offered the casual announcement. He said, it
sounds like something that already exists already. Is there less
to this announcement than meets the.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, we're going to have to find that out over
the next couple of days. I mean, there has been
some chat behind the scenes over the past week that
there was something coming to do with foreign investors coming
into New Zealand. I mean it's no surprise in the
sense that Nikola Willis and the Prime Minister have been
saying for weeks now that we need to grow the pie,
we need to grow, we need to grow. In fact,
(01:26):
every question we ask them it seems to end with
them talking about how we need to grow. And this
is a good way for an economy to grow. Essentially,
I mean, you import your capital in the form of
rich people. Now people want to come to New Zealand.
That is something that we know for sure because we're
an attractive destination, not just because we're a beautiful country,
but also because we're a relatively modern, good place who's
(01:49):
business with So of course we want to allow more
capital into the country. And that's just what the Prime
Minister seems to have done today and Erica Stamford as
well in terms of relaxing some of these requirements. The
questions that I have in this and the questions that
I'll be taking into this week, is what what happens
to the foreigners that want to buy homes? You know,
if it's all well and good to come here with
your millions of dollars, but if you can't buy a
(02:11):
home here, it doesn't really matter. Now that might be
buried somewhere in the detail today. We'll have to wait
and see. But there is still quite a bit to
get through in terms of the details of this one.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Now, look, there are probably a few curve bore questions
in here for you. But so Luxelm talked about up
to in the two years prior to COVID, migrants invested
two point two billion, and then since twenty twenty two
it's only seventy million. Was that I mean that was
that simply related to changing the rules? What were the
I'm just curious to know if the rules were a
(02:41):
lot different at that, you know, from those two periods.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, well, I mean the National Party, well I should
call them the government absolutely thinks that it is. But
they have this convenient habit of forgetting about COVID nineteen. Now,
although in their press release, in the stories and the speeches,
they did mention before COVID and after COVID, but it
did a massive amount of damage to a lot of
people from all around the world. We're starting to recover now. Yes,
but it's no prize that we've seen such a drop
(03:07):
off in investment capital because of the impact that COVID
had on many people. But you'd have to look at
those two numbers. Two I think it was two point
two billion dollars before Covida, seventy million after COVID. There
is a lot that needs to be explained, because that's
can't just be put down to COVID nineteen and investors
getting cold feet, because.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
There is something in the press release that I'll read
to you which you will have no doubt read. But
basically one of the sentence says talking about making the
investor visa simpler, and it's talking about attracting capital, skills
and international connections. And here's the bit that got my
I wouldn't say my hackles, but got my antenna up
a little bit. It says, but to build a life
for themselves and their family. Here seys Immigration Minister Erica Stanford,
(03:52):
which does imply they're going to make it easier to
become a resident. And therefore that maybe that's why Winston's
been making these noises about easing the restrictions on foreign
bars book because it's going to be done.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Anyway, Yeah, I mean the Prime Minister was talking about
that on Tuesday, and then Hosking had Winston on on Friday,
and Winston was sounding very sympathetic to this and saying, well,
if it is if they're bringing money into the country,
then of course this is something that we're going to
look at. And then he went on to say that
they've always thought this and it's always been a policy
of theirs, which I had to scratch my head out
a little bit. It all seems to be sort of
(04:29):
falling into place in the way that the government have
seen it. I mean, I know that Nikola Willis and
the Prime Minister would have much liked Winston to come
to this conclusion before the coalition talks, so they could
have immediately reversed the foreign owner's ban and started getting
some of the tax in. But better late than never.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They're probably thinking, do you get the sense that their
investors just dying to put money in here and I funny,
we've make the rules simpler or is this just a
little bit of honey to attract them and to try
and get that conversation going with foreign investors.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, I mean, and I hate this answer when everybody
gives it the time will tell right. We need to
actually be able to see what it is that foreigners want.
Every time I've gone overseas with the Prime Minister, and
it's been quite a lot, he always talks about how
foreign companies and investors are crying out for investment into
New Zealand, but they just need ways of investing and
things to invest in. And so I mean this answers
(05:24):
one of those questions. It makes it easier for them
to invest in New Zealand. But the other question is
what exactly are they going to buy is another question entirely,
and I'm not really sure. I mean, you can, you know,
buy into some New Zealand businesses, you can, you can
carve up some New Zealand land if you're allowed to
do that. But at the end of the day, I mean,
look at all of our listed company or companies that
are listing. They're going over to Australia, you know. I mean,
(05:45):
there still might be based here, there's a lot of
operations here. But it's just a fact. As the matter is,
it's just not as attractive to be a business in
New Zealand now as it was maybe ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Some might have described US as having sold citizenship to
Peter Tail for around fifty million bucks. Is it fair
to say we've announcements just basically just lowered the price
for it.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Well, it depends how you want to skin a cat.
I mean, at the end of the day, if the
ends justify the means, If this makes us a richer,
more prosperous country for everybody, then have at it. But
if it doesn't do that, and we're just essentially, like
you're saying, selling citizenship to the highest bidder, it's probably
a bad idea. And that's why there is a number
of checks and balances in place here in terms of
the minimum investment requirement over three and five years and
(06:30):
a number of other things as well. And you can
bet your bottom dollar that the government will be keeping
a very close eye on these people to make sure
that they are actually investing what they said that they
were going to.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I guess you've said you've had the benefit of the
seeing the bit of the stand up and some of
the questions, but Chase the one page of the press
release and the bit of information around it. I looked
at and thought, God, there's not much this. So just
as if you were a gambling man, is this going
to be more Do you think this is more going
to be about form or is there going to be
some real substance that's going to make a difference here.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, I mean again, we'll have to see how many
people apply. The government can talk about this and make
announcements so they're blue in the face. If nobody actually
comes through, then it's a failure. But if people start
to come through and they start investing money in New Zealand,
then absolutely it's fantastic. I think the government does have
a bit of work to do in try basically heralding
(07:21):
these investments when they're made and saying this is something
that only happened because of our changes to the immigration setting.
And the one thing that I I mean, listen, I
have a lot of cracks at the lux And government.
I had a lot of cracks at the Art Durned government.
The thing that I will give to the Luxan government
is they're very, very very good at trumpeting their own successes.
So if it's working, I'm pretty sure we're going to
(07:41):
hear about it.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Indeed, Hi, thanks very much for your time, Jackson. I
let you get back to it and we'll look forward
talking again Thanks Matt Cheers. That is Jason Will's in
News Talks B political editor.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talks It'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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