Covid visa rules block $2.3b of investment
Foreigners keen to invest up to $2.3 billion in New Zealand are unable to get visas because of Covid-19 restrictions, a situation National says is holding back ‘‘tens of thousands’’ of jobs.
The huge amount of cash is promised by applicants for the investor-class visa, which allows foreigners to gain residence in New Zealand if they promise to invest a certain amount of money into the economy.
This visa was famously used by US tech billionaire Peter Thiel to gain residency in the country, which he then used to gain citizenship.
Immigration NZ (INZ) currently has just over 400 investorclass visa applications on hand, almost all of them from offshore applicants. Yet it is not able to grant visas for those offshore because they do not meet the travel conditions to enter the country.
‘‘While the borders are closed, INZ is legally unable to grant visas to individuals who are unlikely to meet entry requirements due to the current border restrictions,’’ a spokesperson for INZ said.
‘‘This has had an impact on the processing of visa applications from individuals offshore, including the processing of investor-category visa applications from individuals outside of New Zealand. However, INZ has continued to process visa applications from individuals who are already in New Zealand.’’
Those offshore included 158 individuals applying for Investor Class 1 visas, who are promising to invest $10 million in the New Zealand economy, and 240 applying for Investor Class 2 visas, who promise to invest $3m in the New Zealand economy.
If all those visas were approved, the promised investment would total $2.3b over the next four years – a large amount for an economy worth roughly $308b.
National Party economic development spokesman Todd McClay said the Government should attempt to get through the visa issues and get the investment into New Zealand, as it could represent ‘‘tens of thousands of jobs’’.
‘‘The economy needs the investment and we need the jobs to be created,’’ McClay said. ‘‘If they can get the isolation system to work properly, there’s no reason why a qualifying investor couldn’t get a place – if they’re coming here to invest and create real jobs for New Zealanders, and if they can pay for their quarantine and show they don’t have Covid-19.’’
McClay pointed to figures showing there were more than 1000 empty rooms in managed isolation in recent days.
Business NZ’s Rachel Simpson
said New Zealand was ‘‘not out of the woods’’ from the economic problems from Covid-19, and the investment was sorely needed.
‘‘Being able to bring productive investment into New Zealand would create more jobs for New Zealanders.’’
She said there was a risk the applicants would end up taking their money elsewhere. ‘‘We’ve got to be mindful that this kind of opportunity for productive investment might not be here forever.’’
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there was no firm timeline for changing the rules around visas, but more capacity in managed isolation would likely open up early in the new year.
‘‘What we’ve had to do is consistently adapt to what has been a changing flow of New Zealanders. There was a period earlier in the year when we saw the demand from returning New Zealanders dip. That allowed us to extend into more visa categories and have more eligible to come in,’’ Ardern said. ‘‘As we’ve seen the virus spread and the summer period begin and more New Zealanders have considered relocating to New Zealand, that capacity has gone again. I imagine in the new year that will dip away again.’’
Almost half of managed isolation spots are taken up by people travelling from Australia, meaning the long-discussed ‘‘trans-Tasman bubble’’ would open up a lot of capacity.
Labour promised to make 10 per cent of managed isolation capacity available for businesses to bring in essential workers as part of its election manifesto.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said the Government had its system under constant review but there was no plan to change the rules to allow investor-class visas.
‘‘Investor category visa applications would need to also meet ‘other critical worker’ criteria to qualify for a border exception. There are no plans to change that at the moment ...
‘‘It should be noted that even if an offshore investor category visa applicant were to fit the border exception criteria, it is not necessarily the case that their promised investment would immediately flow into New Zealand. There can be a lag, even without Covid, between when an investor category visa applicant is successful and when they bring their investment here.’’
‘‘What we’ve had to do is consistently adapt to what has been a changing flow of New Zealanders.’’ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern