A rainbow appears on the Auckland skyline featuring Sky Tower in New Zealand, July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

SYDNEY, June 23 (Reuters) – New Zealand said on Monday there has been a rush in applications for its new foreign investor migrant visa as the centre-right government looks to lure more high net-worth individuals to the country to stimulate economic growth.

The government in April relaxed rules for the visa, including lowering the minimum required funds for the category that focuses on higher-risk investments to NZ$5 million ($3 million) from NZ$15 million, and removing the English language requirement.

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“(There has been) a flood of formal interest in the new ‘golden’ visa,” Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said.

“New applications under the scheme represent a potential NZ$845 million ($503 million) of new investment in New Zealand business.”

In a statement, Stanford said the government had received 189 applications in less than three months for the Active Investor Plus visa, compared with 116 submissions over more than two-and-a-half years under the previous settings.

Eighty-five of those applications, or just under half of the total, were submitted by U.S. citizens, followed by China with 26 and Hong Kong with 24.

New Zealand’s economy grew faster-than-expected in the first quarter, official data showed last week, providing some relief for policymakers keen to put the economy back on a solid footing after it sank into technical recession last year.

The two-quarter GDP decline was the worst since the sharp downturn of 1991, excluding the pandemic.

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