Business Migration Branch (BMB) assesses the following application types:

• Investor and Investor Plus
• Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur Plus
• Long-term business visas
• Residence from Work, Talent (Accredited Employer)
• Residence from Work, Talent (Arts Culture & Sport)
• Accredited employer applications and renewals
• Parent retirement
• Temporary retirement

For further information on these categories, please see Investing and doing business in New Zealand.

 

To avoid delays, please send these applications to BMB, not your local branch.

 

Please courier or post your application to BMB at:

Level 3, Kordia House
109-125 Willis St
WELLINGTON

 

or place the application in the BMB drop box in the Wellington Branch reception area at:

Level 2, Kordia House
109-125 Willis Street
WELLINGTON

 

Wellington Branch reception is open from 9:00am to 3:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Processing times for business applications

Allocation time frames

Processing on your application will generally begin shortly after your application is received at BMB.  

 

Your case will be allocated to a case officer as soon as possible. However, in times of high demand, under certain streams it may take up to six weeks for an application to be allocated.

Long Term Business Visas

Year to date to 31/12/11:

 

62.2% of all applications are decided within 90 days.

Things that may delay an LTBV application

• Missing documents – such as full birth certificates, police certificates or financial documents about the business or the applicant.
• Incomplete applications, missing documents such as business plans or evidence of finances.
• Unclear information about sources of funds.
• Generic business plans which do not provide a specific and detailed picture of what your business proposes to do.
• An existing medical condition (see 'Medical and chest X-ray certificates' below).
• A criminal conviction listed on your police certificate (please give a written account outlining the circumstances surrounding the offence). 
• Any custody issues surrounding children who will be needing student visas as dependents.  

Talent Residence

Year to date to 31/12/11:

 

69% of all applications are decided within 90 days.

 

Note: These include residence applications under Talent (Accredited Employers) policy and Talent (Arts Culture and Sport) policy, but not those made under Long Term Skills Shortage List policy which should be sent to your local branch.

Entrepreneur

Year to date to 31/12/2011:

 

37.8% of all applications are decided within 90 days.

Things that may delay an Entrepreneur application

• Lack of evidence that the principal applicant has established a business in New Zealand for example, by:
  • a Certificate of Incorporation
  • financial accounts
  • GST records
  • New Zealand Companies Office annual returns
  • shareholding records
  • other tax records.
• Documents to prove the applicant has established a business in New Zealand which are not produced by a reliable independent agency or professional (for example, a solicitor or chartered accountant).
  

Investor

The time frame for Investor Plus and Investor applications from lodgement to approval to transfer and invest funds is as follows.  Please note this refers to the application stage only (not the Expression of Interest stage under the Investor category).  Once approval to transfer and invest funds has been granted, the applicant has 12 months within which to transfer the funds to New Zealand and place them in an acceptable investment.

 

Note: These time frames are only for applications that have reached Approval in Principle (AIP) stage; they do not include applications on-hand that are yet to be AIP'ed.

Statistics since the beginning of the programme

52% of applications have been granted approval to transfer and invest funds within 90 days.

Things that may delay any residence application

• Missing documents – such as full birth certificates, police certificates, financial documents about the business, full job contracts and details of salary and hourly pay rate.
• Unclear information about finances and sources of funds.
• An existing medical condition (see 'Medical and chest X-ray certificates' below).
• A criminal conviction listed on your police certificate (please give a written account outlining the circumstances surrounding the offence).
• Any custody issues surrounding children that may be included with a residence application.
• The time for New Zealand police certificates to be processed (these may take up to six weeks).

Forms and guides

Please make sure you are using the correct form for your application.

Medical and chest X-ray certificates

See our health forms and guides.

 

If you have an existing medical condition or there are questions arising from the Medical and Chest X-ray Certificate (INZ 1007) that you have submitted with your application for a visa, we are required to refer your documents to an independent medical assessor for their opinion on your health condition.

 

Certificates referred to a medical assessor can take four to six weeks to return to us. Following this you may be asked to provide additional information in the form of specialist reports clarifying the nature and prognosis of your condition.

 

Please be aware that no decision can be made on the outcome of your visa application until all questions regarding your medical status have been resolved.

Employer accreditations

Year to date to 31/12/2011:

87.5% of all applications are decided within 90 days.

Things that may delay accreditation

• Unclear information, or no records, of how many employees are on work visas and when they expire.
• Lack of information about any past of planned redundancies, roles made redundant, numbers of roles and locations.
• No evidence of training undertaken in the past year, as shown by:
  • invoices for external training providers
  • records of in-house training
  • training calendars for staff, and
  • any other records of training that has been carried out.
• Missing information about the number of employees a company has, or how the company is structured.
• Missing financial documents such as audited statements of accounts for the last year, end of financial year reports.