The New Zealand investor visa offers eligible candidates with the financial means the opportunity to become New Zealand residents. There is the Investor visa and the Investor Plus visa.

Your investment visa route would depend on how much you want to invest, and your ability to meet the requirements of either investment visa.

1. Investor visa

You intend to invest NZD1.5 million in New Zealand for 4 years.

What are the requirements?

To be eligible for the Investor visa, you must:

• Be 65 or younger
• Demonstrate three years of business experience in owning a business or being in a senior management position within a company that has:
  • An annual turnover of at least NZ$1 million
  • At least five full-time employees
• Meet the required points score
• Meet the English language requirements
• Be able to prove that you have an additional NZ$1 million available to use as settlement funds
• Meet New Zealand’s health and character requirements

2. Investor Plus visa

You intend to invest NZD10 million in New Zealand for three years.

How does the Investor Plus visa differ from the Investor visa?

When you choose to invest through the Investor Plus visa, you’ll have less requirements to meet than someone who applies for the Investor visa:

• There are no age restrictions on the Investor Plus visa
• You don’t have to demonstrate any business experience
• You don’t have to have settlement funds available
• There is no English language requirement or points test applied to the Investor Plus visa

What are the requirements?

To be eligible for an Investor Plus visa, you must:

• Make the required investment in an acceptable investment
• Meet New Zealand’s health and character requirements

How should you invest?

You can only invest in acceptable New Zealand investments, and you have to do invest through the New Zealand banking system. INZ also requires that your investment is from a validated source.

What does INZ recognise as acceptable investments?

Immigration New Zealand defines ‘acceptable investments’ as investments that:

• Are able to make a commercial return
• Are invested in New Zealand
• Are invested in New Zealand dollars
• Are invested in legal enterprises or managed funds
• Have the potential to contribute to New Zealand’s economy
• Are not for your personal use, for example, your home, boat or car.

Investments must be in bonds, equities, property or other investments, and INZ lists five types of acceptable investments on their website:

1. Equity in a New Zealand company
2. Investments in new residential property developments
3. Investments in commercial property
4. Philanthropic investments
5. Growth investments

You can read more about acceptable investments on Immigration New Zealand’s website.

Here’s how the application process works

If you wish to apply for a New Zealand Investor visa, you must first lodge an Expression of Interest. If your Expression of Interest is successful, you’ll get an invitation to apply for New Zealand residence.

Should INZ approve your residence in principle, you’ll have 12 months to transfer your investment funds into an acceptable investment in New Zealand. You’ll have to provide verifiable documents to show that the investments came from the funds and/or assets you’ve nominated.

You do not have to submit an Expression of Interest for the Investor Plus visa. You can apply for this visa at any time.

You must do this after your residence is approved…

Immigration New Zealand requires that investor visa holders keep their investments in New Zealand and spend a minimum amount of time in New Zealand:

Investor visa:

• Keep the investment funds in an acceptable investment for four years.
• Spend at least 146 days per year in New Zealand, or 438 days at any time over the four year investment period if you’ve invested a minimum of NZD750,000 in growth investments.

Investor Plus visa:

• Keep your investment funds in an acceptable investment for three years.
• Spent at last 44 days in each of the last two years of your three-year investment period in New Zealand, or, 88 days at any time over the three year investment period if you’ve invested a minimum of NZD2.5 million in growth investments.

Find out if you’re eligible for a New Zealand Investor visa

To see if you’re eligible to apply for either the Investor or Investor Plus visa, book a consultation call with our licensed advisor. You’ll discover if you meet the requirements to apply for either Investor Visa and find out how the application process works.