Scheme nets one rich investor

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman. Photo / Dean Purcell

A scheme aimed at attracting wealthy migrants to invest in businesses and create jobs in New Zealand has resulted in only a single approval to date, despite widespread interest before its launch last year.

The Entrepreneur Plus immigration category, introduced last November, offered entrepreneur migrants who create at least three full-time jobs and invest $500,000 conditional residency upon approval.

Although 12,000 registered their interest in the scheme through Immigration New Zealand's website, only one applicant has been issued a conditional residence permit under the scheme - according to information released by the Department of Labour under the Official Information Act.

Labour Party immigration spokesman Pete Hodgson has slammed the scheme as "obviously a complete and utter failure".

"Unless the minister is satisfied that it's because of bureaucratic failure to process that's the problem, then this policy might as well be taken outside and shot." He said the party would be lodging questions in Parliament about the scheme this week.

But Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman is defending the scheme and National's business migration policies, which he says have brought in $91 million in approved funds from 34 applicants, with $188 million pending from a further 88 investors from schemes other than Entrepreneur Plus.

"Over three years under Labour, they attracted only 23 applications totalling $90 million. In just over a year we have attracted nearly $300 million from 122 applications," he said.

Dr Coleman said "factors beyond our control" such as the global financial crisis contributed to the result of just one Entrepreneur Plus applicant being approved and another declined.

"It's been very hard for people to liquidate assets overseas, to sell businesses to free up capital and to move internationally," Dr Coleman said.

Dr Coleman said overall, more people were coming to New Zealand under current policy, with 361 long-term business visas approved this year compared with 243 in 2008.

The Association for Migration and Investment, which supported the Entrepreneur Plus scheme, said the agency had not been totally upfront with information when the scheme was first announced.

"We thought it was a one-step policy for business migrants to get residency but it has now been explained that you still have to go through two steps - a long-term business visa and Entrepreneur Plus - which makes it even more difficult than the old scheme," said association chairwoman Coral Wong.

Ms Wong, who is also a licensed immigration adviser, said she had been advising potential investor migrants to look to other countries such as Australia, which had "more pragmatic policy requirements".

THE SCHEME

Entrepreneur Plus:
* Investment capital: $500,000.
* Job creation: Minimum three fulltime jobs.
* Registered interest in Nov 2009: 12,000.
* No. of approved to date: 1.