A new visa is attracting high-net-worth individuals hedging against Armageddon, BusinessDesk reports.
Fear of America’s demise was one of the unstated reasons why some millionaires showed up to an InvestNZ event at the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco last Thursday, ahead of the grand final of New Zealander Russell Coutts’ SailGP global regatta.
“There’s definitely a culture of [Silicon Valley] people trying to build their apocalypse bunkers [in NZ], but no one’s doing it in Australia,” said Eric Laakmann, chief executive of marine technology company Seachange.
Americans looking for a safe global backstop was one reason why Silicon Valley is a good source of potential migrants for a visa targeted at attracting high-net-worth investors, he said.
Some of those millionaires were nervous about how the next United States election might turn out or the direction the country was heading in.
