The coalition government's new "golden visa" for investors - which came into being at the start of April - appears to be attracting significant interest.
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise said that in two weeks from the end of March, 2,500 people visited the Active Investor Plus Visa application page - an increase of over 700 percent on the numbers visiting the old investor visa application at the same time last year.
The new version of the investor visa has two simplified categories, the scope of acceptable investments is extended and the previous English language requirements are removed.
The chief executive of Malcolm Immigration David Cooper told Nine to Noon the timing of the revamped opportunity was ideal, and they had seen huge amounts of interest during recent overseas trips.
"We had great attendance at events in four cities in Germany, as well as in Hong Kong and Singapore.
"There were also events in held by NZT in New York and San Francisco, and very well attended by people who aren't just talking, who are actually committing.
"In fact, as of last Friday - so less than two weeks since this visa opened - Immigration New Zealand have received 43 applications."
Cooper said in the last two and a half years under the old policy 100 applications were received.
The minimum investment for the 'Growth' investment category is $5 million for a minimum period of three years.
The 'Balanced' investment category requires a minimum investment of $10 million over five years.
Chief executive of Malcolm Immigration David Cooper. Photo: Supplied
Cooper said there were three main things that "made up the perfect storm".
"The first one was that Erica Standford, Minister of Immigration, was prepared to change the settings - that was a huge shift.
"We've got the geo-political situation going on around the globe and then we've got countries like Australia who have closed their investor visa, Canada is marginally open, Brits are closed, Europe is closing a lot of their golden visa programmes..."
Cooper said unlike Australia, Immigration New Zealand did a "very good job of tracing the money", but said the country still needed to work on "harnessing the talents after hopping of 747's".
He believes by the end of May, Immigration New Zealand could receive up to 100 applications.
"I think we will be seeing 400 to 500, possibly 600 applications a year easily," he said.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said in February the change meant investors would only have to remain in New Zealand for 21 days over three years to gain residency.
Stanford told Morning Report back in February that the "biggest barrier is saying to them, you've got to spend 10 weeks a year here, or whatever it is".
"Why would you force them to be somewhere they don't want to be for the first couple of years?"
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
She acknowledged the visa programme was one of the most expensive in the world, so we had to "have some other things that encourage people to come here."
Stanford said once people saw it was only a week a year for the first three years, "they're more interested in coming. We get them in the door."
Immigration lawyer Nick Mason also told Morning Report in February there had always been a lot of interest in coming to New Zealand, but people were being turned away under the previous active investor category.
"The previous category was just too hard. There were too many hoops to jump through. This will make it much easier."
"There's no guarantee that people won't just be passive and that sort of stuff. But we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. And so ultimately, I think it's a great thing for the economy."
Mason told RNZ the foreign buyer ban remained a sticking point for prospective investors.
The 2018 ban on foreign home ownership remains in place as part of New Zealand First's coalition agreement with National, though Winston Peters has hinted he was open to foreigners purchasing property if they invest big bucks onshore.
This article was first published by RNZ
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