June 4, 2025 • 12 mins
Australia scrapped its version of the golden visa last year, after concerns the scheme was being rorted. Meanwhile, New Zealand has just revamped its own system, and is preparing to welcome wealthy expats with open arms.
This week on the podcast, Rebecca Jones speaks to wealth editor Ainsley Thomson in Wellington about why golden visas are making a comeback in some parts of the world and where you can still get one.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
New Zealand has joined countries like Greece and Singapore as
an attractive golden visa destination.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
For way too long, New Zealand has put up the
shutters on investment. We've been reluctant to recognize the benefits
for Kiwis. Our next step is saying yes to global
talent and global wealth that wants to be part of
our economic success story. Where do you go when the
world turns to hell in a handbasket? For many of
the world's richest people, the ideal destination is just a
(00:31):
few hours away from Australia. Hello, I'm Rebecca Jones and
welcome to the Bloomberg Australia Podcast. This week we are
talking about golden visas. That is a visa that gives
residency to a foreigner if they invest a certain amount
of cash. Now, Australia used to have a similar scheme
(00:53):
to this, and New Zealand has just revamped theirs. So
how are destinations taking advantage of the well heeled? To
answer that, this week, we're traveling across the Tasman to
talk to Ainsley Thompson. She's an editor who helps head
up wealth coverage here in Asia for Bloomberg News. Ainsley
Kia Aura, it's great to have you on the podcast,
(01:15):
Aorra Rebecca. And so what did New Zealand change in
April when it juzzed up its golden visa? Because it
wasn't a new program, was it? Why is it suddenly
so hot?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
It certainly is pretty hot at the moment. You're right,
it wasn't a new program. The one that was in
place in which came out in twenty twenty two, that
was quite a flop. Over the two and a half years,
they only had about one hundred applications and only forty
six were fully approved. The new one which came out
on the first of April. In those six weeks, it's
(01:50):
had almost as many applications as in the entire two
and a half year period of the past one and
that equates to about six one hundred million keywid dollars
and director investment into the country if those are all approved.
So the main thing that changed is the English language test.
They got rid of that. That was seen as quite
insulting to people who were applying. They also changed the
(02:12):
amount of time that you have to spend in New Zealand.
In some cases it's as little as twenty one days.
They reduce the amount you have to invest, and they
cleaned up the investor categories just to make it a
lot simpler. But to my mind, really the big thing
that changed was the attitude of the government. They went
from being quite suspicious of these wealthy foreigners to really
(02:34):
welcoming them, welcoming them into the country and doing everything
they could to smooth it out to the extent that
they've told immigration officials to fast track these applications ahead
of other applications and they're being approved and as little
as eleven days, which is it's pretty amazing for an
immigration office anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Wow, So six hundred million keyweed dollars over six weeks
of applications, it's roughly what five hundred and fifty million
Australian if they're all approved eleven day visa turnarounds. It's
pretty impressive. And see where are all of these applications
coming from.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
That's really interesting. They're mainly coming from the US. Well,
that's the biggest group that's coming from the US, and
that sort of shows us that this is all about timing,
and timing has really played to New Zealand's advantage. Chair
President Trump has been the big factor. A lot of
people have been searching the New Zealand immigration website. I
think in the two days after the last American election
(03:35):
there was a huge increase in people searching that and
that has resulted in an increase of applications from the US.
I spoke to one contact this morning who said to me,
this is about people looking for a safe haven rather
than a tax haven. And it's not just the US.
It's also about the geopolitical tensions around the world, in Asia,
(03:57):
in the Middle East. There's a lot going on and
people are looking for that bolt hole at the bottom
of the world and New Zealand offers that.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Look. On the face of it, Ainsley, all of this
sounds pretty attractive as a tool to attract wealthy foreigners
to invest in New Zealand. What more could the New
Zealand government be doing to further enhance their interest.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
There's one big thing that all the contacts I speak
to they all want, and that is for the ban
on foreigners being able to buy a property to be lifted.
At the moment, only Australians and Singaporeans, because of existing
trade agreements, can buy houses in New Zealand, no other
foreigners are able to unless they attack residents in the country.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Owning property is a priority for the people that you're
speaking to.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Absolutely. I mean it's the thing people want. They want,
as we just discussed this bolt hole, and that means
having your own house, you know, somewhere that you can
escape to a just for a holiday, but be if
something terrible happens in the world and you want to
be able to come to New Zealand, you want this
haven down at the bottom of the world and you
know you really need your own house. You don't want
(05:06):
to be staying in a hotel, even if it's a
luxury lodge that kind of wears than after a while,
you want your own house. And this ban was brought
in in twenty eighteen. It was Jacinda r Derne was
the Prime Minister at the time, and there'd been this
big political outcry over Peter Tiel, the billionaire. He was
given a New Zealand passport and he'd only spent a
(05:28):
few weeks in the country and people were pretty appalled
by this. They thought that our passports were for sale,
you know. There's people were not impressed, and at the
same time the property market was quite overheated, and the
blame was being put on foreigners for that as well,
so they brought this pretty blanket ban on any foreigners
being able to buy a property. What's happened to house prices?
(05:51):
It really didn't affect them. The average house price didn't
go down. It turns out that not that many foreigners
were buying houses after all. But it did affect the
top end of the property market, where it's become really
hard to shift houses because it's such a small pool
of people who have got the kind of money you
need to be able to buy one of these houses.
I wrote about a house last year. It was in Queenstown.
(06:14):
It's in a stunning position, up high and the hills,
overlooking the lake and all the mountains, really close to
the remarkable skifield. It's got a wine cellar and its
own lake and a private road and it was on
the market for about thirteen million New Zealand dollars. I
just couldn't find a buyer. I just checked this morning
and that same house is still on the market, so
(06:35):
you know, there's just there's just a very small pool
of buyers for that kind of property.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It is really interesting to consider those perception versus reality, right,
because as you say, it didn't really make that much
of a difference to the prices of houses in New Zealand.
And So is this one of the reasons why this
go round the New Zealand scheme is seeing such pickup.
Is it because they're being quite direct in laying out
(07:01):
the intended benefits of a golden visa scheme?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
They are being quite blunt about that. You know, they
want this foreign direct investment. Our economy isn't doing brilliantly
last year. We were in recession and they've been looking
for ways to perk that up, to really give it
a boost, and this seemed to be quite an easy
way to do it. To get these people to invest
in the country and that would help with infrastructure projects,
with all sorts of things. Just bring that cash in.
(07:26):
I mean, New Zealand does need skilled workers. Also, most
certainly we've lost a lot of people to Australia. There's
been you know, we've written about that a lot. There's
been a lot of people going across the Tasman. But
they also really want this money.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And when we come back, we'll look at what lessons
Australia can learn from other parts of the world where
a visa has been granted in exchange for a bucket
of cash. You're listening to the Bloomberg Australia Podcast and
to welcome back to the Bloomberg Australia podcast. You're here
(07:59):
with me Rebecca Jones, and I'm talking to Ainsley Thompson,
who writes about wealth for Bloombag News from our beautiful
Wellington bureau. Ainsley, so far we've gone over the structural
and I guess philosophical differences between Australia and New Zealand's
approach to visas for the well healed. I am interested though,
to find out what you've discovered about the experiences of
(08:23):
other countries around the world with similar schemes.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Lots of different countries have toyed with having these schemes.
They've brought them in, they've tweaked them, they've changed them.
You know, they've got rid of them. At the moment,
the US is looking at it as sort of a
type of golden visa. It's President Trump is calling it
the gold card in exchange for five million dollars. It
will let people work towards residency. We don't know the
(08:48):
full details yet, we'll just have to keep watching that one.
In Europe, there's been a lot of political wrangling over
this issue. Just last month, the European Union's top court
told Malta that they had to close the Golden Passport
scheme because you can't sell citizenship. And it's important to
note here that that was a golden passport scheme as
(09:09):
opposed to a golden visa, so it was actually offering
people full citizens citizenship as opposed to just resident residency,
like New Zealand is doing. Other countries like Portugal have
tweaked them. There was an issue there that a lot
of foreigners were buying property and that was becoming a
real political issue because it was driving up prices. So
(09:30):
they tweaked that so people can't invest in real estate anymore,
and grease they raise the amount of money people have
to invest. So the you know, a lot of countries
are kind of tweaking them and changing them. New Zealand, though,
I think, is going against the trend here and that
it's opened it's up. Most countries are narrowing it down.
(09:50):
New Zealand has opened it's up to try and attract
more people.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Certainly a glass half full versus glass half empty view
of these of these lucky people with their wealth looking
for a new place to call home. Ainsley. Here in Australia,
our government, we've had our election in May. That's done.
The focus is now returning to our migration system, including
(10:16):
reassessing the role of investment visas. The current mood music
is leaning away from this passive wealth based residency towards
high skilled, high impact migration. Why is there such skepticism
here in Australia and indeed in other parts of the world,
as you've just mentioned about the benefits of wealth only migration,
(10:38):
because clearly, in the example of where you live in
New Zealand, it does seem to be meeting the brief
I think it all comes down to uptics. I think
most governments would quite like the money if they were
honest about it. But I think the politics of allowing
extremely wealthy people easy passage and to a country it
can be hard to sell to the general voting public,
(11:01):
especially in a country like Australia where there's a housing
crisis and people are struggling to get a house and
they're going to perceive that as a threat to their
chances et cetera. And it's going to you know, possibly
push up prices.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
That's where the settings have to be very tailored to
make sure you're getting the result that you want. New
Zealand before at revamp the visa, they consulted for around
about a year and it was a very broad consultation
with people in the sector. I mean, you know, all
my contacts had knew all about it before it came
(11:33):
out because they've been spoken to by the government and
had given their advice on what they wanted to see
in it, et cetera. So I think getting those settings
right really helps in New Zealand. So far it seems
to be going okay, but you know, we'll keep an
eye on the data where we'll watch and see and
see what happens and see how much money does come
into the country and how much is being put to
work in the economy.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And so thank you for joining me. Thank you, and
thank you for listening to the Bloomberg Australia podcast. I'm
Rebecca Jones. This episode is recorded on the traditional lands
of the Lbungerie people of the Coulin Nation. It was
produced by Paul Allen and edited by Ainsley Chandler. Don't
forget to follow and review the show wherever you get
your podcasts, and sign up for Bloomberg's free daily newsletter,
(12:17):
Australia Briefing. Go to bloomberg dot com to subscribe.
New Zealand has joined countries like Greece and Singapore as
an attractive golden visa destination.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
For way too long, New Zealand has put up the
shutters on investment. We've been reluctant to recognize the benefits
for Kiwis. Our next step is saying yes to global
talent and global wealth that wants to be part of
our economic success story. Where do you go when the
world turns to hell in a handbasket? For many of
the world's richest people, the ideal destination is just a
(00:31):
few hours away from Australia. Hello, I'm Rebecca Jones and
welcome to the Bloomberg Australia Podcast. This week we are
talking about golden visas. That is a visa that gives
residency to a foreigner if they invest a certain amount
of cash. Now, Australia used to have a similar scheme
(00:53):
to this, and New Zealand has just revamped theirs. So
how are destinations taking advantage of the well heeled? To
answer that, this week, we're traveling across the Tasman to
talk to Ainsley Thompson. She's an editor who helps head
up wealth coverage here in Asia for Bloomberg News. Ainsley
Kia Aura, it's great to have you on the podcast,
(01:15):
Aorra Rebecca. And so what did New Zealand change in
April when it juzzed up its golden visa? Because it
wasn't a new program, was it? Why is it suddenly
so hot?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
It certainly is pretty hot at the moment. You're right,
it wasn't a new program. The one that was in
place in which came out in twenty twenty two, that
was quite a flop. Over the two and a half years,
they only had about one hundred applications and only forty
six were fully approved. The new one which came out
on the first of April. In those six weeks, it's
(01:50):
had almost as many applications as in the entire two
and a half year period of the past one and
that equates to about six one hundred million keywid dollars
and director investment into the country if those are all approved.
So the main thing that changed is the English language test.
They got rid of that. That was seen as quite
insulting to people who were applying. They also changed the
(02:12):
amount of time that you have to spend in New Zealand.
In some cases it's as little as twenty one days.
They reduce the amount you have to invest, and they
cleaned up the investor categories just to make it a
lot simpler. But to my mind, really the big thing
that changed was the attitude of the government. They went
from being quite suspicious of these wealthy foreigners to really
(02:34):
welcoming them, welcoming them into the country and doing everything
they could to smooth it out to the extent that
they've told immigration officials to fast track these applications ahead
of other applications and they're being approved and as little
as eleven days, which is it's pretty amazing for an
immigration office anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Wow, So six hundred million keyweed dollars over six weeks
of applications, it's roughly what five hundred and fifty million
Australian if they're all approved eleven day visa turnarounds. It's
pretty impressive. And see where are all of these applications
coming from.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
That's really interesting. They're mainly coming from the US. Well,
that's the biggest group that's coming from the US, and
that sort of shows us that this is all about timing,
and timing has really played to New Zealand's advantage. Chair
President Trump has been the big factor. A lot of
people have been searching the New Zealand immigration website. I
think in the two days after the last American election
(03:35):
there was a huge increase in people searching that and
that has resulted in an increase of applications from the US.
I spoke to one contact this morning who said to me,
this is about people looking for a safe haven rather
than a tax haven. And it's not just the US.
It's also about the geopolitical tensions around the world, in Asia,
(03:57):
in the Middle East. There's a lot going on and
people are looking for that bolt hole at the bottom
of the world and New Zealand offers that.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Look. On the face of it, Ainsley, all of this
sounds pretty attractive as a tool to attract wealthy foreigners
to invest in New Zealand. What more could the New
Zealand government be doing to further enhance their interest.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
There's one big thing that all the contacts I speak
to they all want, and that is for the ban
on foreigners being able to buy a property to be lifted.
At the moment, only Australians and Singaporeans, because of existing
trade agreements, can buy houses in New Zealand, no other
foreigners are able to unless they attack residents in the country.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Owning property is a priority for the people that you're
speaking to.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Absolutely. I mean it's the thing people want. They want,
as we just discussed this bolt hole, and that means
having your own house, you know, somewhere that you can
escape to a just for a holiday, but be if
something terrible happens in the world and you want to
be able to come to New Zealand, you want this
haven down at the bottom of the world and you
know you really need your own house. You don't want
(05:06):
to be staying in a hotel, even if it's a
luxury lodge that kind of wears than after a while,
you want your own house. And this ban was brought
in in twenty eighteen. It was Jacinda r Derne was
the Prime Minister at the time, and there'd been this
big political outcry over Peter Tiel, the billionaire. He was
given a New Zealand passport and he'd only spent a
(05:28):
few weeks in the country and people were pretty appalled
by this. They thought that our passports were for sale,
you know. There's people were not impressed, and at the
same time the property market was quite overheated, and the
blame was being put on foreigners for that as well,
so they brought this pretty blanket ban on any foreigners
being able to buy a property. What's happened to house prices?
(05:51):
It really didn't affect them. The average house price didn't
go down. It turns out that not that many foreigners
were buying houses after all. But it did affect the
top end of the property market, where it's become really
hard to shift houses because it's such a small pool
of people who have got the kind of money you
need to be able to buy one of these houses.
I wrote about a house last year. It was in Queenstown.
(06:14):
It's in a stunning position, up high and the hills,
overlooking the lake and all the mountains, really close to
the remarkable skifield. It's got a wine cellar and its
own lake and a private road and it was on
the market for about thirteen million New Zealand dollars. I
just couldn't find a buyer. I just checked this morning
and that same house is still on the market, so
(06:35):
you know, there's just there's just a very small pool
of buyers for that kind of property.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It is really interesting to consider those perception versus reality, right,
because as you say, it didn't really make that much
of a difference to the prices of houses in New Zealand.
And So is this one of the reasons why this
go round the New Zealand scheme is seeing such pickup.
Is it because they're being quite direct in laying out
(07:01):
the intended benefits of a golden visa scheme?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
They are being quite blunt about that. You know, they
want this foreign direct investment. Our economy isn't doing brilliantly
last year. We were in recession and they've been looking
for ways to perk that up, to really give it
a boost, and this seemed to be quite an easy
way to do it. To get these people to invest
in the country and that would help with infrastructure projects,
with all sorts of things. Just bring that cash in.
(07:26):
I mean, New Zealand does need skilled workers. Also, most
certainly we've lost a lot of people to Australia. There's
been you know, we've written about that a lot. There's
been a lot of people going across the Tasman. But
they also really want this money.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And when we come back, we'll look at what lessons
Australia can learn from other parts of the world where
a visa has been granted in exchange for a bucket
of cash. You're listening to the Bloomberg Australia Podcast and
to welcome back to the Bloomberg Australia podcast. You're here
(07:59):
with me Rebecca Jones, and I'm talking to Ainsley Thompson,
who writes about wealth for Bloombag News from our beautiful
Wellington bureau. Ainsley, so far we've gone over the structural
and I guess philosophical differences between Australia and New Zealand's
approach to visas for the well healed. I am interested though,
to find out what you've discovered about the experiences of
(08:23):
other countries around the world with similar schemes.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Lots of different countries have toyed with having these schemes.
They've brought them in, they've tweaked them, they've changed them.
You know, they've got rid of them. At the moment,
the US is looking at it as sort of a
type of golden visa. It's President Trump is calling it
the gold card in exchange for five million dollars. It
will let people work towards residency. We don't know the
(08:48):
full details yet, we'll just have to keep watching that one.
In Europe, there's been a lot of political wrangling over
this issue. Just last month, the European Union's top court
told Malta that they had to close the Golden Passport
scheme because you can't sell citizenship. And it's important to
note here that that was a golden passport scheme as
(09:09):
opposed to a golden visa, so it was actually offering
people full citizens citizenship as opposed to just resident residency,
like New Zealand is doing. Other countries like Portugal have
tweaked them. There was an issue there that a lot
of foreigners were buying property and that was becoming a
real political issue because it was driving up prices. So
(09:30):
they tweaked that so people can't invest in real estate anymore,
and grease they raise the amount of money people have
to invest. So the you know, a lot of countries
are kind of tweaking them and changing them. New Zealand, though,
I think, is going against the trend here and that
it's opened it's up. Most countries are narrowing it down.
(09:50):
New Zealand has opened it's up to try and attract
more people.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Certainly a glass half full versus glass half empty view
of these of these lucky people with their wealth looking
for a new place to call home. Ainsley. Here in Australia,
our government, we've had our election in May. That's done.
The focus is now returning to our migration system, including
(10:16):
reassessing the role of investment visas. The current mood music
is leaning away from this passive wealth based residency towards
high skilled, high impact migration. Why is there such skepticism
here in Australia and indeed in other parts of the world,
as you've just mentioned about the benefits of wealth only migration,
(10:38):
because clearly, in the example of where you live in
New Zealand, it does seem to be meeting the brief
I think it all comes down to uptics. I think
most governments would quite like the money if they were
honest about it. But I think the politics of allowing
extremely wealthy people easy passage and to a country it
can be hard to sell to the general voting public,
(11:01):
especially in a country like Australia where there's a housing
crisis and people are struggling to get a house and
they're going to perceive that as a threat to their
chances et cetera. And it's going to you know, possibly
push up prices.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
That's where the settings have to be very tailored to
make sure you're getting the result that you want. New
Zealand before at revamp the visa, they consulted for around
about a year and it was a very broad consultation
with people in the sector. I mean, you know, all
my contacts had knew all about it before it came
(11:33):
out because they've been spoken to by the government and
had given their advice on what they wanted to see
in it, et cetera. So I think getting those settings
right really helps in New Zealand. So far it seems
to be going okay, but you know, we'll keep an
eye on the data where we'll watch and see and
see what happens and see how much money does come
into the country and how much is being put to
work in the economy.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And so thank you for joining me. Thank you, and
thank you for listening to the Bloomberg Australia podcast. I'm
Rebecca Jones. This episode is recorded on the traditional lands
of the Lbungerie people of the Coulin Nation. It was
produced by Paul Allen and edited by Ainsley Chandler. Don't
forget to follow and review the show wherever you get
your podcasts, and sign up for Bloomberg's free daily newsletter,
(12:17):
Australia Briefing. Go to bloomberg dot com to subscribe.
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