Wealthy investors migrating to New Zealand will be able to make philanthropic payments of up to $1 million, 20% of their minimum $5 million investment, when they move to NZ.
On Monday, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford announced that from June 1, applicants in the Government's growth category can have a philanthropic component to their investment. This option is currently available in the visa’s other category - the balanced category.
Known as the ‘golden visa’, the Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa settings were changed in April, and two categories - growth and balanced - were introduced. The Government describes the visa as the 'golden' visa.
For the growth category, people are required to invest $5 million over a three-year-investment term. In the balanced category, a minimum of $10 million is needed over a five-year investment term.
The growth category is focused on higher-risk investments, which includes managed funds and direct investments in the country's businesses. The balanced category looks at mixed investments, which means people can choose investments that are lower risk.
Stanford said allowing a capped philanthropic option to the growth category added flexibility "while keeping the category's focus on strong economic outcomes."
Over the last year, Stanford said she had met with investors and potential investors, and heard from charities asking for investors to be able to contribute directly to; “social, environmental, conservation, or cultural good in New Zealand through a philanthropic gift as part of their AIP Visa”.
Stanford said this expansion gives investors the option to support Department of Conservation initiatives or other eligible charities. The Government says eligible charities must have been operating for at least five years, be a tier one to three charity and the philanthropic gift must be used to benefit NZ and not personally benefit the applicant.
$1.69 billion invested
Immigration NZ’s website said as of May 20, there have been 730 applications for 2390 applicants. Of those, 122 are in the balanced category and 608 in the growth category.
As of May 20, 288 applications have been approved and applicants have been granted resident visas - 52 in the balanced category and 236 in the growth category.
People who successfully apply for the AIP visa can live, work and study in NZ indefinitely.
Applications for the Active Investor Plus visa can include a person's partner and children. People in the growth category can apply for permanent residence after three years of keeping funds in NZ, and those in the balanced category can apply after five years.
Immigration NZ's website said of the 730 applications received, 50 are from applicants transitioning an existing application to new settings. 680 are new applications.
About $1.69 billion was the total committed investment from approved applications, Immigration NZ said. Of the applications received, this could amount to a potential total minimum investment of $4.26 billion.
So far 599 applications have been approved in principle - 89 in the balanced category and 500 in the growth category. There have been nine withdrawal requests and one declined application.
Immigration NZ said 131 applications are still being assessed.
"The majority of the investments to date have been into Invest New Zealand approved managed funds, and bonds," Immigration NZ said.
The highest number of applications by nationality has been received from the United States. This was followed by China and Hong Kong.
Other applications by nationality include Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Netherlands, Japan and Great Britain.
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