New Zealand Boosts Economy with Faster Overseas Investment Approvals and New Visas

The Government’s work to boost overseas investment and remove barriers to doing business with New Zealand is delivering billions for the local economy and Kiwi businesses, Associate Finance Minister David Seymour and Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says.

Starting today, many decisions under the Overseas Investment Act will be made in under 15 working days, with a target of five, thanks to a new two-track system, Mr Seymour says.

These changes build on major success speeding up consenting under the old law. Since our Government was elected, we’ve reduced the average processing time by 60 per cent, from 71 working days to 28.

In the past year $7.82 billion worth of investment applications have been processed. These law changes, passed last year and coming into effect today, will help bring even more money into the country.

To balance the need for speed with the need to screen risky investments, we’ve created a two-speed pathway. Low risk applications don’t have to jump through the same hoops as higher risk ones. This approach is a win-win speeding up most consents while freeing up time to scrutinise those that are risky.

The law says decisions on all investments except residential land, farmland and fishing quota must be made within 15 working days, unless there is a potential national interest concern, but the target is five working days. Residential land, farmland and fishing quota will continue going through existing pathways.

If the five day target is met, then most investment decisions will be made fourteen times faster than the average consenting time when we were first elected.

Even at 15 days, this law will result in most consents being processed five times faster than they were before our Government took office. It is a statement that we welcome our friends around the world investing in New Zealand. We see it as a vote of confidence in New Zealand when people want to send their money here.

This reform is about getting capital to productive businesses faster. International investment is essential for economic growth. It provides access to capital, know how, and technology that grows New Zealand businesses, enhances productivity, and supports higher paying jobs.

If we want to be a high-income economy, we must have access to the pools of capital and know-how from overseas investors. We may be an island nation physically, but we cannot afford to isolate ourselves economically. Overseas investment is vital to reaching our goal of economic growth.

Ms Stanford says Active Investor Plus visas applications are growing every day, with the ‘golden visa’ now set to deliver almost $3.5 billion from 589 high-value investor applications.

Following our changes to the golden visa, we’ve had an enormous jump in applications, and over $3 billion in investment set to be delivered, Ms Stanford says.

Overseas investors through Active Investor Plus can now buy houses in New Zealand over $5 million. There is a lot of extraordinary talent and we welcome that. The changes today are another step to help remove barriers for people who want to come and help grow New Zealand.

Kiwi businesses have incredible potential and the Government is committed to backing them, to grow new technologies, open export markets, and create high-demand, highly paid jobs for Kiwis. We’ve opened the country for business to help build the New Zealand of the future – one which Kiwis and our next generations absolutely wasn’t to be a part of.

We’re committed to creating more opportunity for New Zealanders, and I’m pleased that the Government’s changes are opening up access to capital that will make a meaningful difference for New Zealand.