New Zealand is the top migrant destination for UHNW with New Zealand being strong society, offering high level of personal freedom with access to free open markets.

NZ is known to attract large number of Chinese, American and British millionaires.

The NZ Golden visa scheme has silently become one of the biggest, highly successful and most popular scheme targeting only High-net worth (HNW) and Ultra-high net worth (UNHNW) with a minimum threshold of $5 million, despite being most expensive scheme in the world compared with UK, Cyprus and Australia.

These are the most expensive golden visa schemes in the world

• New Zealand – NZD 5 million
• United Kingdom – £2m (tier1 investor)
• Cyprus – €2m (investment citizenship scheme)
• Australia – AUD 1.5 million
• Czech Republic – €3m
• Ireland – €1m
• Canada – CAD 1.2m

New Zealand’s golden visa scheme has received staggering number of applications. Over 7000 applications for NZD$ 5 million investment and over 1100 applications for NZ$ 10m investment, according to Immigration NZ statistics

With the number of applications approved, NZ$ 25.5 billion invested in investor 2 ($5m) scheme, and another NZ$ 8.5 billion invested through investor 1 ($10m) making the total investment NZD$ 34 billion since the launch of the scheme in  2008

NZ Investor visas

NZ has received over 7000 applications for $5m visas and over 1000 applications for $10m visas between 2008 and Feb 2019

• Investor 1 – 859 residence visa applications approved
• Investor 2 – 5100 residence visa applications approved

New Zealand’s business migration policies offer a unique opportunity to enjoy New Zealand’s exceptional lifestyle while developing their business interests. Investors and entrepreneurs can have the best of both worlds – a sophisticated lifestyle in one of our urban centers, and easy access to some of the world’s most stunning landscapes.

Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal and early facebook investor who bought a home and also received citizenship once said “no other country that aligns more with my view of the future than New Zealand”

NZ Golden visa

New zealand offers two types of golden visas for investors

• Investor 1 (NZ$ 10m) invested for 3 years and spend 44 days in 2 years
• Investor 2 (NZ$ 5m) invested in 2 years and spend  146 days in 3 year period, also subjected to quota of 400 per year

The funds can be invested in  equities or bonds issued by government, companies or financial firms . Investments in residential properties for personal use not allowed ( commercial properties exempt)

Both visas are granted for indefinite duration.

Investor 2 candidates are required to file for Expression of Interest (EOI).  Every two weeks Immigration New Zealand selects as many Expressions of Interest from the pool of applicants. Applicants has to score 160 points.

Investor 1 ($10m)

NZ Resident visas decided for investor category – Date of decision between 1 July 2008 and 28 February 2019

Source: Immigration New Zealand

Investor 2 ($5m)

One in three applications are refused for this category. This is because of the quota implemented.

NZ Resident visas decided for investor category – Date of decision between 1 July 2008 and 28 February 2019

Source: Immigration New Zealand

These figures clearly indicates New Zealand attracts large number of millionaires and this trend will continue even more.