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Most people who move to New Zealand get there through a job: an employer offers work, and a visa follows. A smaller group arrives with money or a business instead. New Zealand has a set of visas for them, and this post walks through the ones that exist today: the Active Investor Plus Visa, the Business Investor Work Visa and the Business Investor Resident Visa that follows it, and the Entrepreneur Resident Visa. For each one we explain who it is for, what it asks, and what it does not give you, using only what Immigration New Zealand (INZ, the government department that decides visas) states on its own pages.
You have a large sum to invest, or you have run a business and want to buy and run one in New Zealand, and you do not have a New Zealand job offer. If you are a skilled worker who expects to find an employer, the Skilled Migrant Category is the route to read about instead, and our post on whether you need a job offer sorts New Zealand's routes by that one question.
Residence means a resident visa: permission to live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely. Some resident visas carry conditions for their first years. After you have held one for a set time, you can apply for permanent residence, which has no conditions at all. Our post on visas, permanent residence and citizenship explains the difference.
Work-to-residence describes a temporary work visa that is designed as a first step: you do what it asks for a set period, and then you apply for residence on the strength of it.
Acceptable investment is INZ's term for the kinds of investment that count towards an investor visa. INZ keeps a list, and money that does not fit the list does not count, however much of it you have.
This is New Zealand's visa for people who can invest several million dollars in the country. INZ's Active Investor Plus page describes two categories, and the figures below are the ones stated there on the day we checked:
The money must have been earned or acquired lawfully, and you have six months from approval in principle (INZ's provisional yes, given before you move the money) to transfer the funds into New Zealand, with extensions possible.
INZ's acceptable investments page lists what each category may hold. Under Growth: direct investments in New Zealand businesses, managed funds, and philanthropy (giving to approved causes), with philanthropy capped at 20 percent of the total. Under Balanced: all of those, plus listed shares, bonds and property developments.
Every investment has to meet the same general tests: it is not for your personal use, it is invested in New Zealand in New Zealand dollars, it is on the list for your category, and it keeps meeting the rules for the whole holding period. A house you live in, or cash sitting in a bank account, is not an investment in this sense.
Unlike most resident visas, this one asks for very little physical presence. Under Growth you must spend at least 21 days in New Zealand across the 36-month period. Under Balanced it is at least 105 days across 60 months, and that figure comes down by 14 days for each extra NZD $1 million placed in Growth-type investments, up to 42 days off in total. All of this is stated on INZ's page.
The Active Investor Plus Visa is itself a resident visa, with conditions attached to the investment. INZ's page says that once you have met those conditions you can apply for permanent residence after three years under Growth or five years under Balanced. The page states no English language requirement. Your partner and dependent children aged 24 and younger can be included, and they must arrive within 12 months of the visa being granted.
What it does not give: a way to buy residence without meeting the rules. The funds must be lawful, the investment must sit in acceptable investments for the full period, and health and character checks apply. A visitor with money but no compliant investment does not qualify.
This is the newer route for someone who wants to buy an established New Zealand business and run it, and it is a work-to-residence visa. INZ's Business Investor Work Visa page states the requirements as follows:
The visa is granted for up to four years and can be renewed for up to two more. INZ's page says it can lead to a resident visa after three years on the standard path or 12 months on the fast-track path.
What it does not give: residence on its own. It is a work visa tied to running that business, and the residence step is a separate application.
Once you have run the business for the required time on the work visa, you apply for residence. INZ's Business Investor Resident Visa page states that you must:
The resident visa lets you live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely, and INZ's page says you can apply for permanent residence after holding it for at least two years.
This is the older work-to-residence route, for someone who has already been running a business in New Zealand. Its usual first step, the Entrepreneur Work Visa, is now closed: INZ's Entrepreneur Work Visa page states that it is closed to new applications and that only existing holders may apply to renew.
The resident visa itself remains open, and INZ's Entrepreneur Resident Visa page states two ways in: hold a current Entrepreneur Work Visa and have been self-employed in the business for at least six months, or have been self-employed in New Zealand for at least two years on another visa. If the business has run for less than two years, it must have at least NZ $500,000 of capital invested and have created at least three new jobs in New Zealand; an established business must have created at least one full-time job for a New Zealander. Those jobs must be kept for two years after approval. You must speak and understand English, with any test result no more than two years old, and your partner and dependent children aged 24 and younger can be included.
What it does not give: a way in from abroad. With the work visa closed, a person outside New Zealand with no business here cannot start down this route today. The Business Investor visas above are the route INZ offers for buying and running a business.
All four visas ask for a medical examination with a chest X-ray and for police certificates from your countries of citizenship and residence; our post on police certificates and medical exams for New Zealand explains what INZ asks for and how old the documents may be.
HowToMoveTo's report assesses these business and investor routes as New Zealand pathways, alongside the skilled and family routes listed on our New Zealand page. The questionnaire asks about the funds you hold and any business you have run, and the report then shows each route's requirements beside your answers: the investment category and amount for the Active Investor Plus Visa, the investment, reserve funds, business experience and age for the Business Investor Work Visa, the time served, staff and days in New Zealand for the Business Investor Resident Visa, and the work visa or self-employment history, capital and jobs for the Entrepreneur Resident Visa, with English where a route requires it. The report marks which of those requirements your answers already meet and which are still to do.
The report explains and compares. It does not tell you whether INZ will approve you, and it cannot: only INZ decides that, on evidence you supply.
If you are weighing an investment or a business purchase against a skilled route, start the free questionnaire for New Zealand. You will see a free summary of the routes that fit your answers, and you can unlock the full report from there.
Answer our free questionnaire and see your eligibility summary instantly. You only pay to unlock your full personalized immigration report.