LaurentLore Business and Investor Edition
September 2020
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In This Issue
Investor Residence - the Movie
The Borders are Shut
Parent Retirement Residence
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"Don't bother looking anywhere else"

Thoroughly recommended. Extremely professional and experienced firm from initial assessment to final delivery. Simon and his team took on what should have been a straightforward application for residency investment visa. INZ went back 13 years into business history wanting details and explanations. Records were not available as they are disposed off after 7 years in our country. Simon was able to work with the scraps of information available from emails to make an excellent summary and understanding of the business history at that time and help educate INZ on a very specialized area of business transactions. We began to feel that we really were not wanted in NZ by INZ at many times and felt like giving up. Simon continued to battle our corner with great determination, accuracy and points of law. At no point were we asked for more funds as we would have expected from any other lawyer in the world. Simon honored his fixed price deal. Don"t bother looking anywhere else."

- North American Investor  
LaurentLaw Barristers & Solicitors
7A Maidstone St, Grey Lynn, Auckland, 1021, New Zealand
Ph.  +64-9-630-0411;  Fax  +64-9-630-0412

One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a dramatic increase in interest in NZ Residence through Investment in the last few months - particularly from the US.  We have had an unprecedented number of Zoom meetings with high-net-worth individuals who want to come to NZ as a safe haven.

I was also recently interviewed by Radio New Zealand on exactly this topic.  We have been approached by several New Zealand businesses who are eager to attract offshore capital for their ventures.  There is thus an appetite to do business on both sides of the table.

You can subscribe to our law firm blog to see up-to-date commentary on trends in the immigration field, including the impact of the Parliamentary Elections which will take place in October 2020.

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Yours sincerely
Simon Laurent
Principal
LaurentLaw Barristers & Solicitors
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Your comments would be appreciated - including questions which you would like answered directly or in a future instalment.
Investor Residence - the Movie

The pandemic lockdown gave me the opportunity to venture into video at last, for better or for worse.

In this short clip, I explain the 2-stage process of making the application, followed by transfer and investment of assets which you have nominated.  I also explain the challenges with this type of application.  Some of these are not immediately obvious.
The Borders are Shut 

Since April 2020, the default position is that non-New Zealanders cannot enter the country unless they first get an exemption to do so.  This is in order to reduce the risk of importing COVID-19 into the country, which has remained fairly free of the virus since late May.

Everybody who does come in must spend 2 weeks at a Government-managed quarantine facility.  There are limited places in isolation, which cuts down NZ's capacity to let people in.

Those from visa-waiver countries like the UK and the US can't just turn up at the airport and come in like they used to.  Immigration New Zealand has also stopped accepting almost all temporary visa applications for people offshore.  This means that, for many, the only way to make progress toward the dream of being in NZ is to apply for Residence - if they can.

There are a few exceptions to the rule about exemptions, including people who come in on visas as partners of NZ Residents or Citizens.  Otherwise, you have to make the request for exemption using an online form.  The rate of decline of these requests is about 80% overall.  It is possible to get in if one has a very good offer of employment, or can show "exceptional humanitarian circumstances" - but that is a very high bar to cross in practice.

For more detail about how this system works, read the recent blog by our Staff Solicitor, Sahar Shamia.
Parent Retirement Residence
 
This is a pathway that is often overlooked.  It allows older people who have adult NZ children to secure residence by investing significantly less than for the Investor categories.

In order to qualify, you must:
  • Place NZ$1 million in New Zealand investments for 4 years;
  • Identify another $500K of "settlement funds" that you can use to set yourself up in NZ.  You don't have to bring it in, but you must show that you have it;
  • Have an annual income of $60,000.  This could be from pension, rent on property you own, or profits from a business that you own.
Some challenges with this category are the same as those with Investor Residence - for example, proving how you earned the money which you will invest.  That is why it would be a good idea to engage professional help either to plan how you can file an application successfully, or to let someone manage the whole process from start to finish.

At a time when it is almost impossible to "just visit" this country, considering Residence makes sense for those who can do it.
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