Entrepreneur visa doubts
The bar is being set too high for migrants seeking entrepreneur work visas in what immigration advisers claim could be a move to do away with the visa policy.
The proportion of entrepreneur work visas rejected had risen sharply this year, Laurent Law principal Simon Laurent said.
The tough new restrictions could be aimed at discouraging migrants from applying for the visa, he said.
‘‘I think they may be setting the bar too high … so that they can clear the books of applications and possibly put in a new policy.’’
New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment director Ryan Ji said the entrepreneur work visa policy was ‘‘crazy’’. It had become ‘‘more than impossible’’ to be granted the visa, he said.
But Immigration staff told advisers at an industry seminar in February that it declined a high number of the visas because they were of low quality, he said.
Last year, Immigration declined
62 out of 178 entrepreneur work visa applications, according to figures from the agency.
In 2014, Immigration declined
21 out of 513 applications.
The visas were introduced in March 2014 to replace the longterm business visa. They are granted on a points-based system.
Yue Liu was declined an entrepreneur work visa last year.
She applied with a business plan to export $300,000 of apples and cherries from the Hawke’s Bay to north-east China, over three years.
She claimed her application reached the 120-point thresholdbecause she exported $65,000 of apples to China in a trial run and she had relevant senior management experience.
Immigration accepted only 40 of her 120 points and declined her application.
The rejection letter said there was not enough proof that her role as a lawyer was fulltime, and she was an ‘‘export agent’’, not a business owner.
Liu said she felt cheated by New Zealand’s immigration system. Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said he had received concerns about the low approval rate of entrepreneur work visas.
But he would not say if the visa was sustainable.
A global impact visa aimed at attracting entrepreneurs was introduced in 2017.
A Cabinet paper released last year said the existing entrepreneur visa was working well but was ‘‘not designed to bring in the more innovative, global entrepreneurs needed to support the growth of New Zealand’s innovation system’’.
Laurent said Immigration could move to focus on the global impact visa.
The entrepreneur work visa policy was ‘‘almost counterproductive,’’ he said. ‘‘So, maybe we don’t have an entrepreneur visa as it stands.’’