Investor visas
Our Investor business migration visas are for investors who want to gain residence in New Zealand.
The Investor Visa (Investor 2 Category) is an option if you plan to invest a minimum of NZ$3 million over a four-year period. If you’re looking to invest $NZ10 million or more then the Investor Plus Visa (Investor 1 Category) could be a better option. Below are the main differences between these two options. Recent changes have been made to our investor visa policies to further recognize and reward higher levels of business experience, English language skills and growth oriented investments.
Criteria for approval for Investor Visa
- $ 3mNZD
- Invested for 4 years
- 146 days in NZ in each of the last three years of a four year investment period or 438 days in NZ over the four year investment period*.
Additional requirements:
- Minimum 3 years business experience
- English language requirements apply
- Family members must have English language ability the same as principal applicant or pre-purchase ESOL tuition
- Maximum applicant age 65 years
Investor Plus Visa
- $10mNZD
- Invested for 3 years
- 44 days in NZ in each of the last 2 years of a three year investment period or 88 days over the three year investment period*.
- No additional requirements.
Rewards for growth investments
If you invest at least 25% of your investment funds into assets other than Bonds and Philanthropic Investment, Investor visa holders will be able to meet their time in New Zealand requirement flexibly, with Investor 2 visa holders required to spend 438 days over the 4 year investment period and Investor Plus visa holders needing to spend 88 days over the 3 year investment period.
Investor 2 visa holders who invest at least 50% of your investment funds into assets other than Bonds and Philanthropic Investment will qualify for a reduction of $0.5m of the investment amount. For example, if you nominate $3m of investment funds and invest $1.5m outside of Bonds and Philanthropic Investment, you will only be required to invest a further $1m to meet the visa requirements.
Acceptable investments
If you’re interested in applying under one of our investor policies, the opportunities you take up must fit our ‘acceptable investment’ criteria. Broadly speaking, acceptable investments can be:
Equity in NZ firms, public or private. An equity investment can be active or passive, and be made direct or via managed funds (only the proportion of the Fund that is invested in NZ is counted as acceptable). Bonds, issued by the NZ Government, NZ local authorities or approved NZ banks, finance companies or firms.
New residential property development that is not for the investor’s personal use and designed to make a commercial return on the open market.
- Up to 15% of the investment total can be philanthropic investment.
- Generally, to be considered acceptable, an investment must:
- Be capable of a commercial return under normal circumstances.
- Be invested in New Zealand in New Zealand currency.
- Have the potential to contribute to New Zealand’s economy.
- Not be for the personal use of the investor.
- This is just an overview, and there are other conditions that apply.
Investment funds
You can nominate a mix of funds and/or assets to invest. They must be equivalent to at least NZ$3 million for Investor or NZ$10 million for Investor Plus, though you may nominate more, depending on the points claimed in your Expression of Interest (EOI).
You’ll need to provide evidence showing that your investment and/or assests are owned by you or jointly by you and your partner and/or dependent children if they are included in the application.
You’ll also need to provide evidence showing that your intended investment funds: