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Rich Foreigners Spurn New Zealand After Visa Rule Changes
Six years after the controversy over Peter Thiel’s citizenship, the South Pacific nation’s new program to lure investment from wealthy overseas investors is off to a slow start.
The ski resort of Queenstown in New Zealand’s South Island is popular with wealthy travelers.
Photographer: Mark Coote/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The ultra-wealthy appear to be losing interest in New Zealand.
A new investor visa, aimed at luring high-net-worth individuals who can pour millions of dollars into the nation’s companies, has attracted just 14 applications since it was launched about six months ago. That compares to 492 applicants to the country’s old visa program in 2021, before it tightened the rules to require bigger sums of money and ruled out investing in real estate.