Chinese dominate entrepreneur visa

Chinese migrants make up the vast majority of entrepreneurs who are coming to New Zealand to set up businesses.

A breakdown was provided by Immigration New Zealand as it prepares to pilot a new type of visa designed to attract ‘‘a select few high-impact entrepreneurs’’ from across the world.

Figures show more than 70 per cent of the 386 people who obtained entrepreneur work visas in the past year were from China.

Fewer than 6 per cent came from the United States and the United Kingdom.

The number of entrepreneur work visas granted was down by a third, from 583 the previous year, despite overall net migration hitting an all-time high above 69,000.

Fewer than a quarter of the 1039 entrepreneur work visas granted since the visa was introduced in March 2014 were for the entrepreneurs themselves, with 795 going to their family members.

The Government announced in March that it would pilot a new ‘‘global impact visa’’ which will offer temporary residency to up to 400 budding businesspeople over the next four years, with any family members on top on that cap.

A Cabinet paper said the existing entrepreneur and investor visa schemes were working well but were ‘‘not designed to bring in the more innovative, global entrepreneurs needed to support the growth of the New Zealand’s innovation system’’.

That was even though the entrepreneur work visa’s usual requirement that applicants have at least $100,000 to invest can be skipped if they start a business in a ‘‘high-value sector’’ such as information technology.

Immigration area manager Darren Calder said the global impact visas would be designed to bring ‘‘innovative, global entrepreneurs from across the world to New Zealand’’.

The Cabinet paper said those prospects included younger, less wealthy people who might be ‘‘driven to take more risks in innovative business opportunities’’.

Immigration NZ expected it would accepting applications from mid-2017. start