# 2021 December article: New Zealand re-opens door to wealthy foreign investors promising to drop millions



## Kingdragonfly (Apr 29, 2021)

I've heard medical personnel are able to (relatively) easy to migrate into New Zealand.

But even well-trained people like engineers find it nearly impossible to immigrate, even though it's listed on the critical shortage list.

For those who don't know, December is summer in New Zealand, and effectively New Zealand is relaxing, not doing much work, through 17 January.

*Stuff*: New Zealand re-opens door to wealthy foreign investors promising to drop million


New Zealand is taking tentative steps towards reopening its doors to overseas investors, with authorities green-lighting visa applications for people pledging to pump millions of dollars in the economy.

Immigration NZ has now approved visas for 32 people who agreed to invest at least $10 million each in New Zealand, and a further 76 who agreed to invest at least $3m each.

Those who have been approved will be able to apply to enter the “virtual lobby” to vie for a spot in New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system.

Those represent a bare-minimum investment of $548m, with hundreds of applications still to be decided on.

Even while the pandemic has been ravaging the world, Immigration NZ has had a dedicated unit promoting the country to wealthy foreigners willing to invest when they could get into New Zealand. Visa applications were being processed, but not decided on, while the borders were tightly shut.
...


----------



## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

And?
Are you surprised or shocked by this?


----------



## Kingdragonfly (Apr 29, 2021)

For those who don't know, New Zealand "Kiwis" are well-known for a Tall poppy syndrome.

It always makes local headline news when the rich are treated better than ordinary citizens.

New Zealand politicians and government workers generally don't like being caught giving preferential treatment to the rich, whether it's a celebrity using a private jet and trying to bypass COVID isolation, or wealthy Chinese attempting to buy large tracts of land.

It must make it difficult for billionaires maintain secrecy when building their bolthole bunkers in New Zealand.

It had looked like New Zealand was going to open up to skill workers, and the rich, in late 2021. But the discovery of Omicron variant made that plan go out the window.

Though the Prime Minister really hasn't expressed much about new migration plans, as of December 2021, she'd traditionally been chilly about opening up to the world.

Traditionally isolation has been given priority over vaccinations. For example, for me to get the Pfizer booster shot, the closest center to me is a 3 hour drive 4 months in the future.

I'd guess New Zealand is the top 5 most difficult countries in the world for migration. My gut feeling is even Australia is more permissive than New Zealand.

As I mentioned doctors and nurses are the exception; migration for them sounds relatively easy.

From the immigration.govt.nz website:

...Border rules can change quickly. Travellers must prepare for disruption to their plans....

...The border is currently closed to almost all travellers to help stop the spread of COVID-19...


----------

