700 Wealthy Foreigners, Many Californians, Applied for New Zealand Golden Visas as State Weighs Billionaire Tax

New Zealand's overhauled golden visa program has pulled in more than 700 applications from wealthy foreigners over the past 14 months. That's up from just 115 applications in the previous three years combined, according to the Financial Times.

Americans account for 277 of those applications, and Californians are especially active, the Financial Times reported. The FT quoted Lachlan Nixon, founding partner of venture capital firm Motion Capital, describing the visa as something close to a badge of honor in Silicon Valley circles.

New Zealand's Active Investor Plus scheme offers two paths. Applicants can invest at least NZ$5 million, roughly $2.9 million, in local funds, companies, or charities within three years. Or they can put NZ$10 million, about $5.7 million, into passive assets like bonds over five years. That second tier drew 127 applications on its own.

Since New Zealand eased the rules in April 2025, loosening property purchase restrictions, expanding investment options, and cutting required time spent in the country, applicants from North America, Europe and Asia have committed NZ$4.8 billion, about $2.7 billion, in total.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the money is helping reverse a brain drain of young New Zealanders leaving for better economic opportunities elsewhere. He credits the inflows with giving local startups both capital and expertise.

The California backdrop

The surge coincides with a November ballot fight in California over Proposition 40, a one-time tax of up to 5% on the assets of individuals and trusts worth more than $1 billion. The measure, backed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would send 90% of the proceeds to healthcare and the rest to food assistance or education. State officials estimate it could raise tens of billions of dollars over several years.

The California Democratic Party and California Labor Federation have endorsed it. Supporters say the state needs the revenue to cover healthcare funding gaps left by federal cuts.

Governor Gavin Newsom opposes the tax. His office argues it could drive wealthy residents and businesses out of the state, which would ultimately hurt funding for schools, clinics and public safety, according to the New York Post. Sergey Brin has put tens of millions of dollars into fighting the measure, and billionaire-backed groups are pushing competing ballot measures designed to make the wealth levy harder to implement.

Six billionaires, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Peter Thiel, Don Hankey, Travis Kalanick and Steven Spielberg, have been publicly reported to have left California ahead of a proposed January 1, 2026 residency cutoff tied to the tax fight. Their combined fortunes represent roughly $27 billion in potential tax exposure, per the New York Post. Mark Zuckerberg and David Sacks have also been reported to have relocated, though on different timelines.

What the visa numbers actually show, and what they don't

A golden visa application is not proof of emigration. New Zealand's own investment migration ecosystem, including private clubs like the Mountain Club that court new arrivals, treats these visas as relationship-building tools, not evidence that applicants are packing moving trucks.

Coverage from Worthbury makes that distinction explicit, describing the visas as a form of geographic diversification rather than genuine intent to emigrate. Worthbury frames the trend as wealthy individuals treating residency options like portfolio assets, held for optionality, comparable to interest in Portugal, Malta or Caribbean citizenship programs. That's a real pattern in wealth management, and it means the 700-application figure shouldn't be read as 700 confirmed departures from California or anywhere else.

Zagdim Overseas, citing the same Financial Times reporting, notes that golden visa schemes have a mixed track record globally. Ireland, Malta and Australia have all canceled their versions over weak uptake or abuse concerns. New Zealand tightening its own rules again if volumes keep climbing is a live possibility, not a certainty.

None of that changes the fact that named billionaires with tens of billions in combined net worth have already left California, and that the New Zealand application numbers are real and dated to a 14-month window overlapping the Prop 40 campaign. But nothing in these reports establishes a direct causal link between the New Zealand visa applications specifically and the California ballot measure. Wealthy Americans have pursued backup residencies for geopolitical and financial-diversification reasons well before Prop 40 qualified for the ballot.

What comes next

California voters decide Prop 40 in November. If it passes, the real test will be whether departures accelerate beyond the six billionaires already reported to have left, and whether New Zealand's Active Investor Plus applications from Californians keep climbing past the 277 American filings recorded so far. Luxon's government will also have to decide whether continued volume growth calls for tightening the scheme again, the way Ireland, Malta and Australia did with their own programs.