Investment Based Residence

To be eligible for the Active Investment Category, you need to have at least four years of business experience. To have your business experience recognised by the New Zealand Immigration Service, you do not need to have owned or run a business but you do need to have worked at managment level.

Business experience is recognised if it is experience in planning, organisation, control, senior change-management, direction-setting and mentoring acquired through ownership of, or management level experience in, a lawful business enterprise that has at least five full-time employees and an annual turn-over of NZ$1 million.

A principal applicant is considered to own a business if they own at least 25 percent of a business.

A lawful business enterprise is an organisation that:

• operates lawfully in a commercial environment with the goal of returning a profit; and
• is not set up primarily for passive or speculative purposes.

The length of business experience is based on at least 30 hours per week. You may get credit for part-time business experience on a proportional basis, so if you have gained eight years' business experience at 15 hours per week, this would equate to four years' business experience based on a 30-hour week. Credit is given for 30-hour weeks only, even where you may have worked more than 30 hours in any week.

Business experience does not have to be gained in consecutive years but it must add up to at least four years in total.

If you have New Zealand business experience, you must have gained it while holding an appropriate permit.

There are three different categories an investor can apply for residence under. The basic requirements for each of these categories are as follows:

Investor Category Basic Requirements

	Global Investor Category	Professional Investor Category	General (Active) Investor Category
Investment funds	NZ$20 million for 4 years, $5 million of which must be actively invested	NZ$10 million for 4 years, $2 million of which must be actively invested	NZ$2.5 million for 4 years
Minimum settlement funds	None	None	NZ$1 million
Maximum age	None	64	54
Minimum English language	None	IELTS level 4 for 2 out of 4 bands	IELTS level 5 for 2 out of 4 bands
Minimum time in NZ	73 days each year	109 days each year	146 days each year

Investor Category Health Requirements
You and any family members accompanying you need to be in good health. When you apply for residence, you will have to be assessed by an approved doctor. Your application must be accompanied by medical and chest x-ray certificates for each person.

Investor Category Character Requirements
You and any family members accompanying you must be of good character. You will have to provide police certificates for all applicants aged 17 years or over. Some people who have committed serious crimes will not be allowed into New Zealand.

How to Apply for the Active Investor Category

Details of how to apply for the General (Active) Investor Category

Details of how to apply for the Professional Investor Category

Details of how to apply for the Global Investor Category