To be eligible for residence in New Zealand under our Entrepreneur Category, you need to have successfully established, and be self-employed or working in, a business that is
benefiting New Zealand.
You may have applied for, and gained, a Long Term Business Visa or Permit so that you could establish the business, and now wish to apply for residence. Or you may have held a Work Permit granted under another category that allowed you to establish your own business and you now want to apply for residence.
If so, you:
- must have established, purchased, or made a substantial investment of at least 25 per cent in a business operating in New Zealand
- must have been self employed or, if you’re a part-owner, have worked, in that business for two years before you apply for residence as an entrepreneur
- or any partner or children who are with you must not have sought social welfare assistance.
Where you first applied for a Long Term Business Visa or Permit, we’ll decline your application for residence if:
- your business is different from the one included in your Long Term Business Visa or Permit application
and
- fails to meet our business plan requirements
and
- the business does not have at least the same level of investment as your original proposal
and
- you do not have previous experience in that business.
You don’t need to have a Long Term Business Permit
If you have a successfully established business that’s been operating for two years you can apply directly for a Residence Permit to apply under our Entrepreneur Category.
To get an overview of the requirements for this category, see our quick check.
If you’re eligible…
We’ll write to you to tell you that we’ve approved in principle your application.
Before we can grant you a residence permit we’ll need to see that…