New Zealand announces it will loosen visa rules to lure foreign money

The New Zealand government is seeking new ways to bolster growth

Wellington in New Zealand (Tourism New Zealand)

New Zealand will relax visa rules to attract more foreign investors, in efforts to stimulate economic growth, its government said on Sunday.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said the country’s investor visa category would be made “simpler and more flexible” to encourage investors to choose New Zealand for their “capital, skills and international connections”.

“These changes will turbocharge our economic growth, bringing brighter days ahead for all Kiwis,” Stanford said in a statement announcing that two new visa categories - for “higher-risk investments” and “mixed investments” - would be created.

The changes, to take effect from April 1, follow the government’s recent relaxation of visa rules allowing holidaymakers to work remotely while visiting the country, aimed at boosting its tourism sector.

The new conditions allow visitors to work from New Zealand for an employer or client that is in another country.

The change will apply to applications received from 27 January 2025, including tourists and people visiting family or partners and guardians on longer-term visitor visas.

This visa is aimed at digital nomads – people who travel freely while working online because they are not required to be in a certain place. It means they will be able to keep in touch with work back home without breaching visa conditions.

Digital nomads are people who travel freely while working

Those who have a visitor visa and people who enter the country with a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) will be under these conditions.

However, the new relaxed rules will not extend to those who have a work connection in New Zealand. Visitor visa holders must not work for a New Zealand employer, have to be physically present at a workplace in New Zealand or provide goods or services to people or businesses in New Zealand.

The government said that the push for digital nomads to spend time in the country is to try and drive up the country’s appeal to other tourists as well as bring in more visitor spending, especially during the shoulder season.

“Tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest export earner generating revenue of almost $11 billion and creating nearly 200,000 jobs, New Zealand’s economic growth minister Nicola Willis said.

“Making the country more attractive to ‘digital nomads’ – people who work remotely while travelling – will boost New Zealand’s attractiveness as a destination.”

After slipping into a technical recession in the third quarter of 2024, the New Zealand government is seeking ways to bolster growth. In January, it announced plans to set up Invest New Zealand, part of the government’s international economic development agency, to serve as a one-stop-shop for overseas investment.