February 9, 2025 • 7 mins
Five million dollars can now buy you residency in New Zealand under the government's reinstatement of the golden visa.
Entries vary over $5 million for growth ideas, and $10 million for more conservative plans, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said.
"Growth is the 5 million and that's for direct investment straight into a Kiwi business or into a New Zealand managed fund that is investing into New Zealand businesses via managed funds."
The Finance Minister spoke to Mike Hosking about what is involved in the visa change.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In fact to this new deal for entry to the
(00:01):
country is wealth. Have you got five million, you can
buy a residency. It's the Golden Visaas of April one,
the Active Investor plus scheme will change its drop its language.
Test entries five million over three years for growth, ideas
ten million over five years for more conservative plans. The
Economic growth Minister Nikola Willis is Willis good morning. The specifics,
(00:21):
what delineates growth from conservative and who decides.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So growth is the five million And that's for direct
investments straight into a Kiwi business or into a New
Zealand managed fund that is investing into New Zealand businesses
via managed funds.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So that's direct investment.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
But a man fund is also a superannuation fund. It's passive,
It creates nothing, does nothing other than eventually and somehow
feeds it through to the market generally.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, well, no, we have a list of approved funds
that MZTE have approved that are making investments into New
Zealand ventures and businesses. So those are funds that yes,
they're more passive than a direct investment, but the ruler
is seventy percent of that cash has to be flowing
directly into New Zealand ventures. So that is pretty direct investment.
(01:09):
And you talk to those fundholders, they'll tell you they
are always keen for more capital because they know lots
of startups, they know lots of businesses that need to
grow and they're trying.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
To source capital for them. So that's the growth category.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Could buy, I could buy Shears and Fisher and Pikel
or Briscoes.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
No, it can't be for listed equities.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, so it's got to be a fund like the
superannuation fund, superannuation.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Fund, well, like the Angel Investor fund, like funds like
the Movak Fund. There's a range of funds. There's dozens
of them on the NZTE site, and in fact we
expect fundholders will set up funds specifically to take advantage
of this FEZA because there are clear rules that the
money needs to be going to active New Zealand investments,
(01:53):
but there are also people very interested in making those investments.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The numbers he gave the Prime Minster in the speech yesterday,
I thought we were alarming what used to come into
the country versus what comes in now. How much of
that were the settings or how much of that was
the English language test?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Look, it was the settings, including the English language test.
And you're right, Mike, we've been leading billions on the table.
So we know that in the two years prior to
Labour's changes, New Zealand took in more than two billion
dollars an investment through these golden visas. Labor went and
fiddled with things and that shrunk to just seventeen million,
which I just think is criminal because all of that
(02:29):
money could have been helping our economy, creating New Zealand jobs,
helping grow New Zealand businesses and the wealth of our economy.
So this is a putting right and it's important that
we do it.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Did you have to move now because Dunton maywell win
the election He's going to do exactly the same thing
in Australia.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
This was about us being competitive in the foreign investment space.
We've had a very messy immigration system. We've inherited. First
thing was to clean up the house, fixing up those
employer work visas, ensuring that we had the regional seasonal
employer scheme working, and this was always firmly on our agenda.
It is an area where we had to consult pretty
widely because the details do matter. No point in setting
(03:08):
up visas that no one wants to take up.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So we did a lot of engagement to ensure that
this will work.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Is that your answer to my next question, which is
why didn't you do it sooner?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Look, basically, as I said, the immigration system when we
came in was out of control. We were getting huge
flows of very unskilled people. We had migrant exploitation opening up.
We had a regional seasonal employer scheme that wasn't working.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So first moves were to fix that up.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, you clean the house and do the dishes first,
and now we've moved to this very important setting, which
is about attracting investment into the country.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You must be at a point now where you're getting
sick of being asked you, the Prime Minister and everybody
else about Peter's and his fascination with foreigners buying houses.
When's the announcement coming that changes that blockage.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, the first thing to note is that if people
become New Zealand permanent tax residents, then they are able
to buy homes and New yae So there is a
pathway for people coming in at the moment. But you're
pointing to the National Party policy going into the election
in which we said we'd like to see more people
from overseas being able to buy a house here because
we see that as a contribution. And look, there are
(04:14):
discussions about what the conditions might be to meet that,
and I have learned Mike that it's best not to
get ahead of Winston Peters, best to let him speak
for himself.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
He did on this program on Friday where he seemed
to indicate that he was kind of across the line,
and the word is it's fireble six million dollars by
way of a house, not your policy of two million,
and we're sort of there is that kind of about right.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I think his position is that he sees value that
if people are genuinely going to contribute to New Zealand,
they're investing their cash here, they're creating key we jobs,
they're contributing to New Zealand communities, then actually there is
a case for them buying a home. And the details
of that are all things that we're working.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Through exactly in a matter of days or weeks, because
what you've announced doesn't make sense unless you follow through
with the logical conclusion, and that is that we need
to move on with a housing thing. So can we
say that's close or not?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
As I say, Mike, I'm not going to get here
to Winston Peters. As you know, this was an issue
that we campaigned very strongly on New Zealand. First have
had their position. It's up to them to decide we're
going to come to the table on this one. And
as I say, they're at the table and I hope
that we get.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Also on economic growth. And I couldn't get a decent
answer out of the Prime Minister the last week and
we went to Stanford's office and she didn't gave us
nothing but flannel. How is it that the Chinese will
allow us into China visa free and we won't reciprocate
when we're desperate for tourists.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Well, you'll find that a lot of countries around the
world take the same approach. While we do have visa
free travel for people from Canada, the UK, the US,
we do have a screening requirement for those coming from China,
and that puts US in the same place as Australia
and other countries, and that's just about protecting our national interests.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Well, are we suspicious of the Chinese look?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Immigration officials have looked at the pattern of where it
is that we get asylum seekers from, where there are
problems with expatriation, and all of those factors are taken
into account when they're deciding when visas are needed and
when they're not. But the bottom line is this, we
want more Chinese tourists. We've worked really hard to speed
up the processing of those visas that will come down dramatically.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Ours of paperwork and all that sort of stuff. It's
just it seems, I mean, you've answered it better than
they did, so I get the problem. But if we
can't get the Chinese back and we're at eighty seven percent,
where are we going to get them from.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Look, those numbers are continuing to grow. We are getting
them back off those big COVID lows, and I want
to see more of them. So we are working both
on a marketing planned ractually to potential Chinese tourists, as
I say, speeding up those visa processing times, making that
visa processing as easy as possible. At the moment, we
can see that there is more that we can do
(07:01):
there and we.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Should all right appreciate your time. As always. Nicola Willsues,
the Economic Growth Minister.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
For more from the My Asking Breakfast.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
In fact to this new deal for entry to the
(00:01):
country is wealth. Have you got five million, you can
buy a residency. It's the Golden Visaas of April one,
the Active Investor plus scheme will change its drop its language.
Test entries five million over three years for growth, ideas
ten million over five years for more conservative plans. The
Economic growth Minister Nikola Willis is Willis good morning. The specifics,
(00:21):
what delineates growth from conservative and who decides.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
So growth is the five million And that's for direct
investments straight into a Kiwi business or into a New
Zealand managed fund that is investing into New Zealand businesses
via managed funds.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So that's direct investment.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
But a man fund is also a superannuation fund. It's passive,
It creates nothing, does nothing other than eventually and somehow
feeds it through to the market generally.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, well, no, we have a list of approved funds
that MZTE have approved that are making investments into New
Zealand ventures and businesses. So those are funds that yes,
they're more passive than a direct investment, but the ruler
is seventy percent of that cash has to be flowing
directly into New Zealand ventures. So that is pretty direct investment.
(01:09):
And you talk to those fundholders, they'll tell you they
are always keen for more capital because they know lots
of startups, they know lots of businesses that need to
grow and they're trying.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
To source capital for them. So that's the growth category.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Could buy, I could buy Shears and Fisher and Pikel
or Briscoes.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
No, it can't be for listed equities.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, so it's got to be a fund like the
superannuation fund, superannuation.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Fund, well, like the Angel Investor fund, like funds like
the Movak Fund. There's a range of funds. There's dozens
of them on the NZTE site, and in fact we
expect fundholders will set up funds specifically to take advantage
of this FEZA because there are clear rules that the
money needs to be going to active New Zealand investments,
(01:53):
but there are also people very interested in making those investments.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
The numbers he gave the Prime Minster in the speech yesterday,
I thought we were alarming what used to come into
the country versus what comes in now. How much of
that were the settings or how much of that was
the English language test?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Look, it was the settings, including the English language test.
And you're right, Mike, we've been leading billions on the table.
So we know that in the two years prior to
Labour's changes, New Zealand took in more than two billion
dollars an investment through these golden visas. Labor went and
fiddled with things and that shrunk to just seventeen million,
which I just think is criminal because all of that
(02:29):
money could have been helping our economy, creating New Zealand jobs,
helping grow New Zealand businesses and the wealth of our economy.
So this is a putting right and it's important that
we do it.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Did you have to move now because Dunton maywell win
the election He's going to do exactly the same thing
in Australia.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
This was about us being competitive in the foreign investment space.
We've had a very messy immigration system. We've inherited. First
thing was to clean up the house, fixing up those
employer work visas, ensuring that we had the regional seasonal
employer scheme working, and this was always firmly on our agenda.
It is an area where we had to consult pretty
widely because the details do matter. No point in setting
(03:08):
up visas that no one wants to take up.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So we did a lot of engagement to ensure that
this will work.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Is that your answer to my next question, which is
why didn't you do it sooner?
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Look, basically, as I said, the immigration system when we
came in was out of control. We were getting huge
flows of very unskilled people. We had migrant exploitation opening up.
We had a regional seasonal employer scheme that wasn't working.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So first moves were to fix that up.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, you clean the house and do the dishes first,
and now we've moved to this very important setting, which
is about attracting investment into the country.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You must be at a point now where you're getting
sick of being asked you, the Prime Minister and everybody
else about Peter's and his fascination with foreigners buying houses.
When's the announcement coming that changes that blockage.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, the first thing to note is that if people
become New Zealand permanent tax residents, then they are able
to buy homes and New yae So there is a
pathway for people coming in at the moment. But you're
pointing to the National Party policy going into the election
in which we said we'd like to see more people
from overseas being able to buy a house here because
we see that as a contribution. And look, there are
(04:14):
discussions about what the conditions might be to meet that,
and I have learned Mike that it's best not to
get ahead of Winston Peters, best to let him speak
for himself.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
He did on this program on Friday where he seemed
to indicate that he was kind of across the line,
and the word is it's fireble six million dollars by
way of a house, not your policy of two million,
and we're sort of there is that kind of about right.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I think his position is that he sees value that
if people are genuinely going to contribute to New Zealand,
they're investing their cash here, they're creating key we jobs,
they're contributing to New Zealand communities, then actually there is
a case for them buying a home. And the details
of that are all things that we're working.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Through exactly in a matter of days or weeks, because
what you've announced doesn't make sense unless you follow through
with the logical conclusion, and that is that we need
to move on with a housing thing. So can we
say that's close or not?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
As I say, Mike, I'm not going to get here
to Winston Peters. As you know, this was an issue
that we campaigned very strongly on New Zealand. First have
had their position. It's up to them to decide we're
going to come to the table on this one. And
as I say, they're at the table and I hope
that we get.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Also on economic growth. And I couldn't get a decent
answer out of the Prime Minister the last week and
we went to Stanford's office and she didn't gave us
nothing but flannel. How is it that the Chinese will
allow us into China visa free and we won't reciprocate
when we're desperate for tourists.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Well, you'll find that a lot of countries around the
world take the same approach. While we do have visa
free travel for people from Canada, the UK, the US,
we do have a screening requirement for those coming from China,
and that puts US in the same place as Australia
and other countries, and that's just about protecting our national interests.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Well, are we suspicious of the Chinese look?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Immigration officials have looked at the pattern of where it
is that we get asylum seekers from, where there are
problems with expatriation, and all of those factors are taken
into account when they're deciding when visas are needed and
when they're not. But the bottom line is this, we
want more Chinese tourists. We've worked really hard to speed
up the processing of those visas that will come down dramatically.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Ours of paperwork and all that sort of stuff. It's
just it seems, I mean, you've answered it better than
they did, so I get the problem. But if we
can't get the Chinese back and we're at eighty seven percent,
where are we going to get them from.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Look, those numbers are continuing to grow. We are getting
them back off those big COVID lows, and I want
to see more of them. So we are working both
on a marketing planned ractually to potential Chinese tourists, as
I say, speeding up those visa processing times, making that
visa processing as easy as possible. At the moment, we
can see that there is more that we can do
(07:01):
there and we.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Should all right appreciate your time. As always. Nicola Willsues,
the Economic Growth Minister.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
For more from the My Asking Breakfast.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Listen live to news Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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