If you apply for an Active Investor Plus Visa you must invest in acceptable investments under the Growth or Balanced category.
An acceptable investment for the Active Investor Plus Visa means an investment of the funds that:
We determine if the investment is acceptable at the time the investment is made. The investment must continue to meet the requirements of an acceptable investment throughout the investment period (36 months for the Growth category and 60 months for the Balanced category).
We determine the value of the investment in NZD at the time it is made, inclusive of investment fees (such as management fees), brokerage fees and transaction fees charged.
If you are not sure if your investment meets the requirements to be an acceptable investment, you can contact a licenced immigration advisor or lawyer.
Immigration advice for your visa application
You must invest at least NZD $5 million for the Growth category in acceptable investments in New Zealand.
Acceptable investments for Growth category can include:
You must invest at least NZD $10 million for the Balanced category in acceptable investments in New Zealand.
Acceptable investments for Balanced category can include:
A direct investment is an investment in which the decision to invest is made by you, into a privately-held business. Direct investments must be approved by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE).
Acceptable investments — NZTE website
A direct investment must be invested in:
Investments for wholesale investors — Financial Markets Authority
NZTE must also confirm that:
Once the funds have been invested you must:
A managed fund invests in various assets on your behalf. These assets are picked by the fund's manager and their team.
Managed funds — Financial Markets Authority
Managed fund investments for the Growth category must be invested in:
Acceptable investments — NZTE website
Managed fund investments for the Balanced category must be invested in:
Check the other sections on this page for more information on what an acceptable listed equity, property development or bond investment is.
If you invest in property developments through a managed fund, we will only consider the percentage of the investment that is invested in New Zealand property developments as acceptable. For example, if 50% of a managed fund is invested in New Zealand property developments, only 50% of your investment will be acceptable.
You must have a legal agreement with the fund manager or their nominee (such as an investment company) that shows you have agreed to:
Any funds covered by this legal agreement that you have committed to invest are considered invested (for the purpose of your investor visa application) once the agreement has been signed by both parties.
If you have committed to invest funds in a managed fund under the Growth or Balanced category, you can invest the funds in on-call investments while they are waiting to be used by the fund manager.
Any funds used for on-call investments must be:
On-call investments must also:
You can also temporarily place committed funds in a New Zealand bank account or a term deposit for up to 6 months while they are waiting to be used by the fund manager.
You cannot withdraw committed funds in on-call investments unless:
If the NZD value of your on-call investment falls below the amount you have committed to, you can nominate additional funds to make up the difference. Any additional funds you nominate must meet our ownership requirements and must have been acquired legally.
Listed equities are equities listed on a public stock exchange (such as the New Zealand Stock Exchange). They can include shares in an individual company or exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Listed equity investments must be invested in:
Managed funds — Financial Markets Authority
The investment must be for a New Zealand resident entity (such as a company) that is:
Tax residency status for companies — Inland Revenue
Market operators — Financial Markets Authority
Crowdfunding service providers — Financial Markets Authority
Philanthropy is a donation to a New Zealand registered charity.
Philanthropy investments must be donated to organisations that:
Bonds are when you lend money to a bond issuer (such as a government, council or company), for a set period of time at a fixed interest rate.
Bonds — Financial Markets Authority
Bond investments must be:
Government Securities — The Treasury
Investors — New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency
Tax residency status for companies — Inland Revenue
Bonds — Financial Markets Authority (page 19 has an explanation on bond credit ratings)
If you invest in finance company bonds the company must:
We will also treat perpetual preference shares and convertible notes as bonds.
Property developments are projects that aim to build more residential, commercial or industrial property in New Zealand.
Property development investments must be invested in:
Residential property developments must be for people to live in, and must:
The development also must have had any required resource consents approved by the relevant regulatory or local authorities. If the development does not have these, you must provide evidence that any required resource consents have been submitted to and accepted for processing by the local authority.
Residential property developments cannot:
The purpose of new commercial and industrial property development investments must be to develop property for a productive business purpose and generate a commercial return on the open market.
The purpose of existing commercial and industrial property development investments must be to improve the property. The improvement plans must be provided to and approved by us.
The development also must have had any required resource consents approved by the relevant regulatory or local authorities. If the development does not have these you must provide evidence that any required resource consents have been submitted to and accepted for processing by the local authority.
Commercial and industrial property developments cannot:
Industrial properties can include (but are not limited to) warehouses, manufacturing, distribution, and logistical facilities.
If the property development you invest in is located on sensitive land you must have evidence:
Evidence can include:
Identifying sensitive land — Land Information New Zealand
If your property development investment is on sensitive land and meets these requirements at the time of investment, we will continue to consider it an acceptable investment throughout the 60-month investment period.
If you are investing into property development through a managed fund the managed fund must:
The underlying investments of the fund must meet the requirements of an acceptable property investment, for example funding a new development on either new or existing sites which increases housing stock or funding a commercial property development that is making improvements to the property.
You must provide a legally binding, non-revocable agreement between the yourself and the fund manager or a nominee (such as an investment company) made under New Zealand law.
The value you can claim for your investment funds, depends if they are owned by you, or jointly by you and another person.
If you own an investment jointly with:
Once you have invested your funds into acceptable investments you must send evidence of this to us. You must send your evidence within 6 months of receiving your approval in principle letter.
Email your evidence to: InvestorFundsQueries@mbie.govt.nz
We may request more information from you that is not listed here, as part of our assessment.
You should provide:
You should provide:
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More information on each investment type can be found on the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) website.
Information valid as at 2025/04/04 10:49:2.456075 GMT+13