Business work, investments (Photo: Scott Graham/Unsplash)
President Donald Trump's "Golden Visa" scheme has inspired New Zealand to adopt one of its own, and now wealthy Americans are using it as a new opportunity to flee the United States.
Reporting late Tuesday, The Guardian said that the new Active Investor Plus visa has inspired 1,833 people to apply since April 2025. Since the visas are usually for families, the full number of applications is 573. To put that in context, in the past two-and-a-half years, New Zealand visa applications were only 116. A whopping 40 percent of the applicants come from the United States.
The demand is that they must make an economic investment of at least $5 million in New Zealand dollars. That comes to about $3 million in U.S. dollars.
"Robbie Paul, the chief executive of the Auckland-based venture capital firm Icehouse Ventures, has worked with more than 30 people who have applied for a golden visa," the report said. He's been working with clients to help navigate their investments to qualify.
The reason given is all about Trump.
“I’ll put it this way, never in my time in New Zealand did I have an applicant reference [former presidents Joe] Biden or [Barack] Obama … and then, absolutely, a lot of references to people’s feelings towards MAGA and Trump,” he said.
People see New Zealand as a great place for business because the economy and politics are stable. Meanwhile, it's English-speaking and a beautiful country.
It isn't the first time New Zealand has benefited from Trump, however. In 2016, visits to the country's immigration website went up 2,500 percent. After the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade law was overturned, the immigration site quadrupled. In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election, real estate in New Zealand saw a surge of interest.
Right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel angered New Zealanders when he bought citizenship in 2017 despite spending just 12 days in the country.
So, former Labour prime minister Jacinda Ardern shored up rules for the investment visa. She also ensured a ban on foreign home ownership in 2018, out of fear that it was driving up costs during a housing crisis. So, the new rules would allow people to buy homes, but they must be over NZ $5 million.
New Zealand has made $3.39 billion from the program so far.