'Golden visa' update announced by Immigration Minister

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has given an update on the government's so-called 'golden visa', which aims to attract investors with at least $5 million to spend.

Changes to the Active Investor Plus visa took effect in April last year, bringing in two categories - riskier 'growth' investments of $5m-plus over three years and lower-risk 'balanced' investments of $10m-plus over five years - and reducing other barriers, including time spent in New Zealand and an English language test.

The minimum investment amount had previously been $15m.

Stanford said 573 applications had been received to date, totalling about $3.39 billion invested - with $1.05b of that already committed.

She said it compared to 116 applications and $70m of investment over the two-and-a-half years under the previous settings.

"I am delighted that our new visa settings are helping to open up possibility and opportunity for investment," Stanford said.

"These investors bring not just capital, but global experience, expertise, and networks. I have had the pleasure of meeting some of these investors over the last year and I have seen firsthand their love for, and commitment to, New Zealand."

She made the announcement at Hectre, an AI startup focused on orchard management and fruit quality.

Hectre - founded in 2017 - had secured three investors in the most recent round, and was now exporting into 22 countries, she said.

"It's investment like this that grows companies like these ... that's what is so exciting about today."

The government had made minor changes to the visa, she said, including around infrastructure investment which had led to three new funds being approved by Invest NZ.

She said New Zealand was "perfectly placed at the bottom of the world" as a haven for stable investment from the likes of the US, Germany, Southeast Asia and China in a world facing increased uncertainty - particularly considering Donald Trump's tariffs.

The ability for the investors to buy a house had not seen "massive peaks" in the scheme's growth, she said, and the government was not planning on lowering the investment thresholds.

With net migration now the lowest since 2013, Stanford said that was a stabilisation.

"Remember the commentators saying it's going to be in the net negative - I never thought that would be the case but it has stabilised over the last few months, it's remained much the same and we're just starting to see a slight uptick, so I'm confident that as the economy improves those net migration figures will get back to that 20-year average."

She said the migration figures were largely driven by the economy and would pick up as the economy grew.