New Zealand’s Two Investor Visas Pass US$4 Billion Total Investment Milestone in 2019

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Overall, New Zealand approved 77 category 1 and 168 category 2 applications in the fiscal year 2018-19. Since opening in 2008, the two investor visa categories have raised a combined NZ$6.07 billion (US$4.1 billion).

Taken together, the two tracks saw a slight decline in revenue on the previous year, raising investments worth NZ$1.27 billion compared to NZ$1.29 in 2017-18 but, taken separately, the program’s two categories show wide divergence in terms of performance. Owing to its doubling in price last year, approvals for category 2 are down a drastic 35%, but the more expensive category 1 is up by 48%.

Want to know more about the New Zealand Investor Visa? To see recent articles, statistics, official links, and more, please visit the New Zealand Investor Visa Program Page.

Hundreds of companies can assist with applications to the New Zealand Investor Visa program. To see which ones, visit the Residence and Citizenship by Investment Company Directory.

Chinese nationals remain the principal applicant constituency, accounting for a cumulative 65% of approved applications (and 70% of those declined) among the two categories. Americans, meanwhile, have received 7% of investor visas to date, while British and Japanese have taken possession of 5.3% and 2.6% of visas, respectively.

New Zealand’s investor visas remain among the world’s most restrictive as it continues to reject about a third of all applicants. During the last 12 months, authorities declined the applications of 22% of category 1 investors and 35% of those in category 2, thereby foregoing a potential NZ$490 million worth of investments.

But rejection rates vary widely among nationalities too; while only 17% of Indonesians and 18% of Singaporeans saw their applications turned down, 41% of South Africans and 38% of Malaysians met the same disappointment.