AUCKLAND, New Zealand--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#MalcolmPacific--There is a growing queue of United States citizens with millions in their pocket looking to get into New Zealand.

David Cooper, chief executive of Malcolm Pacific Immigration, says a quick look at Immigration New Zealand�s (INZ) recent statistics on people seeking investor category 2 visas for New Zealand residence consistently shows the majority are from the US.

�From the surge of inquiries that we have seen, there are plenty of US citizen waiting to see which of the countries they have chosen will welcome them first,� Mr Cooper says.

�New Zealand holds the upper hand in that the conditions around its investor visas give a clearer path to residency compared with Australia, for example. But if the NZ Government doesn�t follow through its process after selecting people from an expression of interest list, they will just take their money elsewhere at a time our economy could do with it.�

Every two weeks INZ publishes Investor 2 Category selection statistics. Of the 50 people selected on September 24 as eligible to �undergo preliminary verification to determine if an invitation to apply for residency will be issued� 66% were US citizens.

The percentage of US citizens selected for those checks has been growing in the past couple of months from around 30% through to more than 50% in August and now 66%.

Mr Cooper says there are a variety of reasons for people wanting to gain residency in NZ, from concerns around COVID-19, to the political environment, to just wanting to give their children a childhood in a country they perceive to be clean and safe.

The Investor 2 category means the principal applicant must have a minimum NZ$3 million to invest, hold that investment in NZ for four years and stay in the country for at least 146 days for three of the four- year term. The investment must also be commercial, not for personal use like a house to live in.

Mr Cooper says generally the investment earns the investor permanent residency, whereas Australia has tougher conditions to meet to achieve the same.

�We can only hope post NZ�s general election these investors and their funds can enter New Zealand, which will help the country's economic recovery.�

For a quick reference to investor visas go here: https://www.malcolmpacific.com/investor

Contacts

David Cooper � 021 780 277 or email [email protected]