A controversial New Zealand scheme that offers visas to wealthy foreign investors has resumed operating after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic, prompting concern from overseas New Zealanders who fear it will place additional strain on the country’s overburdened managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) system.
Martin Newell, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Grounded Kiwis, said the scheme’s resumption would prompt “disbelief” among New Zealanders overseas, who may lose out on MIQ spots to the investors.
“The government is abandoning the needs of its citizens in favour of those who have enough money to be able to buy their way into the country.”
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) recently granted 32 visas to people who pledged to invest at least $10m locally over three years and another 76 visas to individuals pledging to invest at least $3m, according to the news website Stuff.
INZ is yet to decide on a further 816 applications across both categories. The visas add up to a financial commitment of at least $548m. According to an INZ spokesperson, the agency has begun processing applications for multiple visa categories – including the humanitarian and family categories – not just for investors.
With their visas in hand, investors may apply to compete for spots in New Zealand’s congested MIQ system. A stay in MIQ is a prerequisite for entry to the country, which has been largely closed to non-quarantined international travel since March 2020 to protect against Covid-19. Due to a shortage of MIQ spots, thousands of New Zealanders have not been able to return home.
It's really interesting who exactly gets permission to throw their hat into the MIQ ring at the cost of reducing spaces (and chances) for NZers to enter for events such as family emergencies and funerals https://t.co/Xst3wnVqFI
— Dr Julie Blommaert 👩🏼🔬 (@drjulie_b) December 21, 2021
Seerwan Ali Jafar, an Auckland resident whose mother has been unable to travel and visit her grandchildren due to MIQ difficulties, said the investor scheme’s resumption was “outrageous and offensive. Kiwis can’t enter to see family but the wealthy can buy their way in. It’s intolerable.”
The scheme’s restart comes after a delay in the resumption of quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders. The Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, said the reopening day would be pushed from 17 January to the end of February due to uncertainty over Covid-19’s Omicron variant. The turnaround ensures that difficulties surrounding access to MIQ will continue into 2022.
According to information released under the Official Information Act, New Zealand’s policy of granting visas to wealthy investors reached its height in 2016-2017 when 446 wealthy investors were granted visas. There has been speculation that at least some of these investors, like the American billionaire Peter Thiel, may have applied because they saw New Zealand as a safe haven for a potential doomsday scenario.
Justin Pemberton, a documentary film-maker focused on economic inequality, said the scheme created a two-tier immigration system. “If you’ve got money, you can come through. If you don’t you can’t … It’s a very crude and reductive way to operate”.
Due to the emergence of Covid-19 and the closing of New Zealand’s borders, just 51 investor visas were granted in 2020-2021. Some were controversial. The Google co-founder Larry Page applied for an investor visa in November 2020 and was accepted in February 2021. The rapid approval sparked frustration given the long delays many migrant workers have experienced getting visas for themselves or their families.
Even as INZ resumes granting investor visas, that visa backlog for migrant workers continues: the government recently introduced a fast-tracked residency visa for such workers, with as many as 15,000 workers stuck in New Zealand eligible to apply.
