About 200 golden visa applications have been received in New Zealand since April when new changes took effect.

Immigration New Zealand announced that it has received 189 applications for the visa since the government applied new changes to facilitate the acquisition of these permits, two months ago, VisaGuide.World reports.

In this regard, Economic growth minister, Nicola Willis, said the surge was significantly higher compared to 116 applications registered over more than two and a half years ago, under the previous rules.

Investor migrants are clearly attracted to New Zealand’s growing reputation as a safe, pro-business, high-potential economy. In a world where countries compete for dollars and talent, it’s great to see New Zealand’s growth prospects being recognised.

In a bid to attract skilled and experienced foreigners’ authorities in New Zealand applied new changes to the Active Investor Plus scheme on April 1, 2025.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, through a statement, announced that two simplified procedures were introduced to the scheme: Growth and Balanced.

The Ministry back then announced that the minimum amount required for the Growth category would be NZD $5 million over a three-year investment term, and NZD $10 million for the Balanced category over a five-year investment term.

According to a report from RNZ, as of June 23rd, a total of 100 applications have been approved in principle. Of those seven have transferred and invited their funds in New Zealand and had been issued a visa.

In this regard, New Zealand’s Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said she would have been satisfied with only 200 applications in the first year.

As of this week we’re almost at 190 after 10 weeks, and I think that shows you the level of interest from overseas, in lots of different markets we haven’t seen before.

The Minister said that the most significant interest has been noted from nationals from the United States, Hong Kong, China and Germany. Stanford said that investors have a total of six months to transfer their funds and begin investing in New Zealand through this scheme.

Investment Boost delivers the confidence to put that capital to work, and to ensure that people are making investments that will pay off in the long run. 

Up to this point, the scheme has managed to attract a large number of internationals.