August 26, 2025 • 6 mins
More money could soon circulate through the economy as the Government opens up the country to more overseas businesspeople.
Under its new Business Investor Visa, foreign investors who put at least $2 million into a Kiwi business will be granted a 12-month fast-track to residence pathway.
People who invest $1 million will be given a three-year work-to-residence option.
ABC Business Sales Managing Director Chris Small told Kerre Woodham more capital needs to be brought in.
He says when it starts going towards business owners, it'll be recycled back into our economy.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wood and Morning's podcast from
News Talk SADB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
As we've been discussing, the government is modernizing visa settings
to attract experienced business people to help grow New Zealand.
The New Business Investor Visa will give foreign business people
who invest at least two million dollars into an existing
Kiwi business a fast tracked residency. The visa will come
with strict rules. Applications open from November. Chris Smaller is
(00:35):
the CEO at ABC Business Sales and was part of
the Business Investor Visa Advisory Group. Morning to you, Chris,
there you go. Now, obviously you're going to say yes,
you know, let's approve a new Business Investor Visa because
you need to sell businesses.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Don't you spot on? Yeah, I'm really happy with you
and now want to see this is great Sin he's young.
I mean, we're built on SMI businesses and if we
can bring more capital to that sector, it's going to
create more jobs and really stimulate the economy. Look, we're
not in a great spot at the moment. That's something
we need so I actually do things. It's going to
be great for New Zealand, which is what we all wanted.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, we've got a lot of mum and dad businesses
who are looking to cash up and no buyers because
young people look at it and go, well, that's too hard.
I have to work seven days a week.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, but it's more than that. It's more than the
young ones there are. There are some young ones out
there who are pretty keen, but they just don't have
the capital. You know, they sort of they haven't been
able to buy a house, get that capital gain and
sort of get that assues under their belt. And a
lot of them are coming out with student loans, so
they don't have the capital to buy. So you know,
this hopefully is going to provide some succession plans for
those people who have worked really hard on their businesses
(01:42):
and we'll we have to take some capain. We've got
to remember when that capital goes to a New Zealand
business owner, that gets recycled back into our economy, you know,
whether they leave it to their children, or they buy
something else or start investing it somewhere else. So it's
it's money that's going to come into our system and
then start circulating, which I think is a good thing
for New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
You and I might agree, but I have to tell
you the text machine is dead against it this morning.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
They're like, you're kidding, really Yet?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Against it are more traffic, more cues at the doctors
and hospitals, more competition for my small business with low
wage workers, more children with no English at schools, less
kimuana from our foreshoores, more rental competition, higher housing prices. Sorry, Kerrie,
I definitely disagree this time.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Oh where a bunch of sad people these days? Aren't
we that?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
There's a lot of them on my text machine this morning?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, So what I'd say to those people is this
is probably going to be I would say you might
have between an extra one hundred and fifty and two
hundred people in New Zealand this visa. So if that's
if you think those sorts of numbers, two hundred people
is going to affect all those all those aspects you
mentioned just before, I think we're all dreaming. So I
think people are probably overestimated how many people are going
(02:53):
to take on this visa and how many transactions are
actually going to happen. My estimate is maximum two hundred
a year, So I don't think that's going to put
pressure on it infrastructure. So I think that's a fairly
good answer to those people who have so many started complaining.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
They are going to be able to bring an immediate family.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
All right, So two hundred times five, we're at one thousand. Yeap, okap,
I don't think I mean, you tell me it is
a thousand going to put serious pressure on our infrastructure. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Also, I kind of think, you know, and I have
been saying this morning and being roundly told off for it,
that when we closed our borders that didn't work either,
there were still cues.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
The house prices have never been higher.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was driven by low interest rates obviously. Yeah.
But yeah, Look, honestly, I think we've got to if
we want to be a country that's going to advance
and be somewhere in the next ten to fifteen years,
we've got to bring the right people. What we do
have to bring more people. And we've got a lot
of a lot of space in this country compared to
internet other countries overseas, and we're going to start using
(03:58):
it otherwise we'll just be stuck, stuck in the dark ages.
In fifty years time, we'll wonder what happened to ourselves.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Our first this morning made the point that Canada and
Ireland have both ended their immigrant investor programs, Canada because
it proved proved to be of poor economic value, Ireland
because of potential links to money laundering and tax avoidance.
How do we avoid that here? Can we learn from
(04:25):
their mistakes?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Look, look, I think so there's reasoning strict criteria here.
You've got to be you've got to have certain amount
of business experience, you've got to have functional English, and
the type of businesses they're buying is a decent amount
of capital, and you've actually got to operate the business,
and you've to create an extra staff member over a
period of time. So look, I think there are enough
hurdles in there, and I think our tax or our
(04:50):
ID is reasonably good at it. What's the word I'll
use at catching up with these people from what I've seen,
especially in the smith business, And I think, look, I
think we've got to go for this because I think
the downside of not doing it is worse than the
upside of doing it.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So what do you imag and this visa, what type
of people do you imagine this visa will attract? A
million dollars. Isn't that much these days?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
No, No, you're right, it's not. But they've got to
actually work in the business and they've got to make
that criteria around heaven work experience. But look, I suspect
you're going to get people from the United States, people
from Europe, and you're going to get people from Asia.
You're going to be the key, key, key people looking
at this and the infra various reasons. Is a lot
(05:34):
of Americans, for obvious reasons, who are a little bit
distant change off franchise with their country. Same in England.
England's going through really all the UK is going through
a really tough economic period. And obviously, you know people
in Asia look at countries like Newzealand, Australia is a
really attractive place to go. So they're going to be
the key types of people who will be coming to
New Zealand. But you know these people from our experience,
(05:55):
because we sell a lot of businesses to a lot
of different people. From our experience, they all work damn hard.
You can't operate a smell business without working hard. And
so the types of people are going to a trick
to us are generally going to be hard Lucas, which
thanks great for New Zealand. It's going to increase our productivity,
which we have a current issue with.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
All Right, you see the upside. I see the upside.
I have to tell you overwhelmingly, the text machine, who
has become an entity in and of itself, does not.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
For more from Kerry Wooden Mornings, listen live to News
Talks at b from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Kerry Wood and Morning's podcast from
News Talk SADB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
As we've been discussing, the government is modernizing visa settings
to attract experienced business people to help grow New Zealand.
The New Business Investor Visa will give foreign business people
who invest at least two million dollars into an existing
Kiwi business a fast tracked residency. The visa will come
with strict rules. Applications open from November. Chris Smaller is
(00:35):
the CEO at ABC Business Sales and was part of
the Business Investor Visa Advisory Group. Morning to you, Chris,
there you go. Now, obviously you're going to say yes,
you know, let's approve a new Business Investor Visa because
you need to sell businesses.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Don't you spot on? Yeah, I'm really happy with you
and now want to see this is great Sin he's young.
I mean, we're built on SMI businesses and if we
can bring more capital to that sector, it's going to
create more jobs and really stimulate the economy. Look, we're
not in a great spot at the moment. That's something
we need so I actually do things. It's going to
be great for New Zealand, which is what we all wanted.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, we've got a lot of mum and dad businesses
who are looking to cash up and no buyers because
young people look at it and go, well, that's too hard.
I have to work seven days a week.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, but it's more than that. It's more than the
young ones there are. There are some young ones out
there who are pretty keen, but they just don't have
the capital. You know, they sort of they haven't been
able to buy a house, get that capital gain and
sort of get that assues under their belt. And a
lot of them are coming out with student loans, so
they don't have the capital to buy. So you know,
this hopefully is going to provide some succession plans for
those people who have worked really hard on their businesses
(01:42):
and we'll we have to take some capain. We've got
to remember when that capital goes to a New Zealand
business owner, that gets recycled back into our economy, you know,
whether they leave it to their children, or they buy
something else or start investing it somewhere else. So it's
it's money that's going to come into our system and
then start circulating, which I think is a good thing
for New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
You and I might agree, but I have to tell
you the text machine is dead against it this morning.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
They're like, you're kidding, really Yet?
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Against it are more traffic, more cues at the doctors
and hospitals, more competition for my small business with low
wage workers, more children with no English at schools, less
kimuana from our foreshoores, more rental competition, higher housing prices. Sorry, Kerrie,
I definitely disagree this time.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Oh where a bunch of sad people these days? Aren't
we that?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
There's a lot of them on my text machine this morning?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, So what I'd say to those people is this
is probably going to be I would say you might
have between an extra one hundred and fifty and two
hundred people in New Zealand this visa. So if that's
if you think those sorts of numbers, two hundred people
is going to affect all those all those aspects you
mentioned just before, I think we're all dreaming. So I
think people are probably overestimated how many people are going
(02:53):
to take on this visa and how many transactions are
actually going to happen. My estimate is maximum two hundred
a year, So I don't think that's going to put
pressure on it infrastructure. So I think that's a fairly
good answer to those people who have so many started complaining.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
They are going to be able to bring an immediate family.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
All right, So two hundred times five, we're at one thousand. Yeap, okap,
I don't think I mean, you tell me it is
a thousand going to put serious pressure on our infrastructure. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Also, I kind of think, you know, and I have
been saying this morning and being roundly told off for it,
that when we closed our borders that didn't work either,
there were still cues.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
The house prices have never been higher.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was driven by low interest rates obviously. Yeah.
But yeah, Look, honestly, I think we've got to if
we want to be a country that's going to advance
and be somewhere in the next ten to fifteen years,
we've got to bring the right people. What we do
have to bring more people. And we've got a lot
of a lot of space in this country compared to
internet other countries overseas, and we're going to start using
(03:58):
it otherwise we'll just be stuck, stuck in the dark ages.
In fifty years time, we'll wonder what happened to ourselves.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Our first this morning made the point that Canada and
Ireland have both ended their immigrant investor programs, Canada because
it proved proved to be of poor economic value, Ireland
because of potential links to money laundering and tax avoidance.
How do we avoid that here? Can we learn from
(04:25):
their mistakes?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Look, look, I think so there's reasoning strict criteria here.
You've got to be you've got to have certain amount
of business experience, you've got to have functional English, and
the type of businesses they're buying is a decent amount
of capital, and you've actually got to operate the business,
and you've to create an extra staff member over a
period of time. So look, I think there are enough
hurdles in there, and I think our tax or our
(04:50):
ID is reasonably good at it. What's the word I'll
use at catching up with these people from what I've seen,
especially in the smith business, And I think, look, I
think we've got to go for this because I think
the downside of not doing it is worse than the
upside of doing it.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So what do you imag and this visa, what type
of people do you imagine this visa will attract? A
million dollars. Isn't that much these days?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
No, No, you're right, it's not. But they've got to
actually work in the business and they've got to make
that criteria around heaven work experience. But look, I suspect
you're going to get people from the United States, people
from Europe, and you're going to get people from Asia.
You're going to be the key, key, key people looking
at this and the infra various reasons. Is a lot
(05:34):
of Americans, for obvious reasons, who are a little bit
distant change off franchise with their country. Same in England.
England's going through really all the UK is going through
a really tough economic period. And obviously, you know people
in Asia look at countries like Newzealand, Australia is a
really attractive place to go. So they're going to be
the key types of people who will be coming to
New Zealand. But you know these people from our experience,
(05:55):
because we sell a lot of businesses to a lot
of different people. From our experience, they all work damn hard.
You can't operate a smell business without working hard. And
so the types of people are going to a trick
to us are generally going to be hard Lucas, which
thanks great for New Zealand. It's going to increase our productivity,
which we have a current issue with.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
All Right, you see the upside. I see the upside.
I have to tell you overwhelmingly, the text machine, who
has become an entity in and of itself, does not.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
For more from Kerry Wooden Mornings, listen live to News
Talks at b from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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