The Government has announced that the reforms of the Overseas Investment Act will come into effect on Friday 6 March 2026.
The reforms include:
- consolidating the current investor test, benefit to New Zealand test and national interest test into a single consolidated national interest test for all assets and land, other than farmland, fishing quota, and residential land.
- allowing certain investor visa holders to apply for consent to buy or build a house worth more than $5million, and
- revising the Act’s purpose statement to explicitly acknowledge the role of overseas investment in increasing economic opportunity.
As announced last year, the reforms are intended to speed up decisions and provide more certainty to overseas investors for low-risk transactions, while protecting New Zealand's national interests and key sensitive assets.
While the statutory timeframe for applications under the new consolidated pathway will be 15 working days (for applications that do not require a "stage 2" national interest assessment), the OIO will aim to assess most applications within five working days. We expect this change alone will help improve investor sentiment and confidence, and marks a significant shift from recent processing times.
The OIO will release further details regarding the new pathway, including the updated information forms, information and documentation requirements, and the new standard conditions that will apply to OIO consent, within the coming weeks.
If you would like to know more about the upcoming changes, and how they might impact you or your business, please get in touch with one of our experts below.