AFP
Chance the Rapper says he wants to move there and tech billionaire Peter Thiel has become a citizen. Wellington-based journalist Ben Collins asks whether New Zealand is becoming a "utopia" for Americans looking to leave.
Forget bunkers in the forest full of food tins and bottled water - it seems New Zealand, with a population of 4.4 million, has become the best option for a new breed of American survivalist.
When the New Zealand Herald revealed this week that Silicon Valley tech billionaire Peter Thiel had become a citizen and purchased a lake-front estate it perhaps shouldn't have been a surprise.
Mr Thiel, who previously said New Zealand was a "utopia" and has invested heavily there, is just one of several US migrants who have realised what the country has to offer.
Punching above its weight
New Zealand recently overtook Singapore as the best place to do business, according to the World Bank. Transparency International ranks it as the world's least corrupt country, and the 2016 Global Peace Index said it was the fourth safest behind Iceland, Denmark and Austria.
"We've definitely had an increase in American inquiries, and at least one sale that has been a direct run-off from the presidential result in the United States," says Nick Horton, an agent specialising in luxury real estate.
"There's just a feeling that people want to create a bolthole in the southern hemisphere that's away from some of the problems facing the Western world," he says.
Recently, the New Yorker magazine ran a piece titled Doomsday Prep for the Super-rich. It detailed the rise in wealthy investors who see New Zealand as their escape from a volatile world.
It is safe and clean. The west coast of the United States is a 13-hour flight away, and modern technology has tamed the tyranny of distance.
The temperate, mountainous country is also comparably well-placed to deal with rising sea levels, and its most recent major attack was in 1985, when French spies blew up a Greenpeace vessel in Auckland harbour.
However, as Horton explains, the interest from the United States is not new.
"The same happened after the global financial crisis, and the same thing happened after Obama was elected, when some people thought the United States wouldn't tolerate having a black leader."
US surge
According to Immigration New Zealand, in November 2016 when the US presidential election was held, 17,584 people registered their interest to study, work or invest in the country, compared with 1,272 in November 2015.
In the two days following the election, the agency said its website received 88,353 visits from the United States - compared to a usual daily average of 2,300 visits a day.
Registrations have remained higher than average, with 3,159 received this month, compared to 1,724 in January 2016.
However, registrations are far higher than actual visa applications.
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