Golden Visa “Theory Does Not Always Match Reality”: Investment Migration People in the News This Week

Investment migration people in the news this week included:

• Simon Laurent
• Richard Howard of Pathways to New Zealand 
• Iain Macleod of Immagine Australia and New Zealand Immigration
• Elly Flemming of Pitt & Moore
• Dominic Jones of Greener Pastures New Zealand
• Rayad Kamal Ayub of Rayad Group
• Nicholas Mastroianni III of USIF
• Troy Hanley of Henley & Partners
• David Lesperance of Lesperance and Associates
• Dimitri Kochenov

The Post – Startup strain? Golden visa money may outpace NZ’s investment options

Immigration lawyer and chairman of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment, Simon Laurent, said he thought the pool might be “a little bit small”.

[…]

“We’ve got 200 applications so far, they represent close to a billion dollars in potential investment in this space, and that’s only three months in. When we get to a year, it might be 3 or 4 billion, – I don’t know if we have enough startups and businesses to soak up that capital – it’s almost too much of a good thing.”

[…]

Managing director and immigration adviser with Pathways to New Zealand, Richard Howard, agreed that if anything, it was a “good problem to have”.

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However, he said, while the growth category visa was popular right now, he expected the categories to balance out over time and he said he also believed applications themselves would “level out between 40 and 50 applications a month for the rest of the year” once the initial flurry subsided.

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Iain Macleod, director of Immagine Australia and New Zealand Immigration said he was getting mixed signals from the market in terms of available investments. Some were saying there were “tonnes” of companies looking for capital to kickstart or boost their growth, while others were questioning where the money was going to go, given the size of the local economy, he said.

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“I guess the proof will be in the pudding and we will know more when the Government reviews things after 18 months of it being in operation,” Macleod said.

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“There is some talk that either private sector or government may look at an infrastructure bond – that talk’s been around for a while – but it would seem quite timely to have quite a large infrastructure bond-type investment which could really soak up a lot of this investment.”

[…]

Elly Flemming, head of immigration at legal firm Pitt & Moore, concurred, saying the investment choices were presented on the website could be a little easier to navigate.

[….]

“When clients ask what they can invest in under the growth visa rules, even I find it a bit overwhelming – there’s no search tool, it’s a big list and not particularly user-friendly,” she said.

The Times – Golden visas can be a force for good if they create jobs

Dominic Jones, managing director of Greener Pastures New Zealand, writes an op-ed for The Times.

[…]

Theory does not always match reality, however. Around the world we have seen examples of governments that have administered the visa in a way that seeks to maximise the total investment balances raised, with little benefit. Examples of this include allowing the visa applicant to place funds in fixed-term deposits, or government bonds. Is the investment valid? Yes. Has the investment helped improve the economy and create jobs? No.

[…]

Any world leader looking at drawing up a golden visa programme should be asking themselves whether it aligns with national priorities. It shouldn’t be about selling access, but encouraging investments that create jobs and drive innovation. The best programmes ask what the investor can do and whether the country fits them long term, rather than simply “selling” a visa.

Times Now – Rayad Group Apologises for UAE Golden Visa ‘Confusion’, Says It’s Discontinuing Private Advisory Services 

Dubai: A Dubai-based private company on Wednesday apologised and took “full responsibility” for disseminating “incorrect” information in the media that the UAE government will grant lifetime “golden visa” for around Rs 23.30 lakhs.

[…]

The apology by Rayad Group, a visa advisory service company, came hours after the UAE’s Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) dismissed reports, which quoted Rayad group as saying that lifetime “golden visas” for some nationalities could be obtained for all categories from outside the UAE via consulting or commercial entities under simplified conditions. Among the outlets that reported the claim was PTI on Sunday.

[…]

Rayad Kamal Ayub, Managing Director of Rayad Group, had said on Sunday that this is a golden opportunity for Indians to get the UAE’s Golden Visa.

Politico – Investor visa firm lobbies up

According to a newly filed disclosure, U.S. Immigration Fund retained Laura Reiff of Greenberg Traurig last month to lobby on issues related to the EB-5 program, which grants conditional green cards to foreigners who invest in qualifying businesses like real estate projects that create new jobs in the U.S. USIF acts as a broker for EB-5 visas by connecting businesses with foreign investors, but the so-called gold card program proposed by Trump earlier this year has been eyed to replace the EB-5 program, which already faces an extensive backlog.

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But a March op-ed from Nicholas Mastroianni III, USIF’s president, warned that the gold card proposal still “lacks legal foundation, legislative approval, and economic impact considerations” compared to EB-5, which Mastroianni said cannot be unilaterally eliminated and thus “remains a well-established, structured, and legally protected program” for foreign investors amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns.

Telegraph – Jacinda Ardern forced out wealthy foreigners. Now New Zealand is desperate to win them back

Troy Hanley, of migration consultancy Henley & Partners, says: “During Covid, the foreign direct investment into New Zealand really plummeted which had a massive impact on a country that [already] is quite isolated. The government also changed the investor visa rules and increased the price.”

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While Hanley says he has seen interest in New Zealand from British clients, most prospective applicants he has worked with are from China. “There’s also no English language requirement and we are seeing a lot of interest in China now that requirement has gone.

Daily Mail – Britain’s billionaire exodus: All the super-rich business tycoons who have fled Labour’s tax raids…and why more could soon follow

David Lesperance, the founder of tax and immigration advisory Lesperance and Partners, said 50 per cent of his ‘ultra-high net worth’ clients had already departed the UK since Labour came to power and predicted half that number again would flee the imposition of a wealth tax.

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‘A large group moved because of the inheritance tax changes, but some decided they would be able to mitigate the hit because they were young, could get insurance to cover it, or could take advantage of some of the tax solutions available,’ he told MailOnline.

Al Jazeera – Is it fair to let your passport define your freedom? | The Stream

Dimitri Kochenov appears on Al Jazeera’s The Stream to discuss the “politics of passports.”