Managing your acceptable investments

After your application is approved in principle you will have 6 months to:

• make a minimum initial investment, and
• invest all your nominated funds into holding investments and / or other acceptable investments.

The total value of your acceptable investments must be at least NZD $15 million or the weighted equivalent.

Acceptable investments: Active investor plus

Holding investments

A holding investment is defined as in New Zealand, in New Zealand currency, and are:

• bonds issued by the New Zealand Government or a local authority
• a term deposit with a New Zealand registered bank, or
• deposits in a New Zealand registered bank.

Funds invested in a holding investment:

• must be in your name
• must remain separate from any other funds, and
• are not for personal use.

You should withdraw these funds only if you want to make an acceptable investment with them.

When your investment period begins

The 48-month investment period will begin from when your first acceptable investment is made. When your visa application is approved in principle you must invest an initial minimum amount, set out in Table 1.

If your first acceptable investment was made before your visa application was approved in principle, the 48-month investment period will start from when your application is approved in principle.

Investing your funds

Within the first 18 months of the 48-month investment period you must invest NZD $7.5 million or the weighted equivalent into acceptable investments. Within 36 months of the 48-month investment period you must invest the full NZD $15 million or weighted into acceptable investments.

You must retain the total $15 million or weighted equivalent in acceptable investments for the final 12 months of the 48-month of the investment period. You must retain any investments you have made throughout the 48-month investment period. This will be in your visa conditions.

Changing your acceptable investment during the investment period

You can change your acceptable investments during the investment period in some circumstances.

An investment may become ineligible during the investment period, for example if a company goes out of business and ceases operations. In cases like this, you should work with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise to ensure that your investment continues to be acceptable.

Investor Migrants — NZTE website

You can choose to liquidate an investment due to reasons outside, or within your control. If you liquidate an investment during the 48-month investment period you must reinvest the funds into the same investment category or into a higher-weighted category.

You must make any changes in investments within the timeframes indicated as follows. Timeframes start from the first working day after the funds are returned to you.

• For direct investments: within 180 days
• For private funds: within 90 days
• For listed equities: within 30 days

If you are forced to liquidate an investment

You must reinvest your funds into listed equities if you:

• are forced to liquidate an investment in direct investment or managed funds, and
• have less than 6 months left of your 48-month investment period. 

This is because finding another direct investment or managed fund investment may not be possible within 6 months.

When your investment period begins

If we decide the funds you name in your visa application are already in acceptable investments, your investment period begins on the day we write to you to let you know your application has been approved in principle.

If you transfer your funds into an acceptable investment after we approve your application in principle, the investment period begins on the date you have transferred and invested all of the required investment funds.

Acceptable investments: investor visas

2-year check on investments

After the 2-year anniversary of your investment date we check your investments to make sure they are still acceptable. You need to submit proof of your investments at this time, which may include:

• an updated portfolio valuation report for all your investments as at the 2-year anniversary
• a letter from your bank or financial institution confirming the amount of your investments in New Zealand
• sale and purchase reports for the investments, if applicable
• sale and purchase agreements or contracts if you have moved your investments around, for example from corporate bonds to other type of assets like business or commercial property.

You have 3 months after the 2-year anniversary to submit the relevant documents to us. We will contact you to remind you to send this information.

Keeping your funds invested

How long you must keep your funds invested in New Zealand depends on the kind of visa you have.

Check your visa conditions

Changing your acceptable investment during the investment period

You can move your investment funds from one acceptable investment to another during the investment period. You have 4 weeks to complete these transactions. This means that within 4 weeks of receiving the full sale proceeds, the funds must be fully reinvested into further acceptable investments. The funds cannot be left as cash for more than 4 weeks.

To make sure we will accept the new investment, contact us before moving your investment. Email:

inz.investors@mbie.govt.nz

You must keep a record of the documents if you change your investments. These can include:

• bank records showing funds movement
• evidence you sold securities, for example government bonds
• evidence of purchase of assets
• financial accounts and other business documents.

You must show that the funds are invested or kept in New Zealand for your required investment period.

Loss in investment value

If your investments decrease in value below our required level of investment, you do not need to invest further to top them up.

Reinvesting part of your acceptable investment

If you want to sell your investments during the investment period, the principle and any capital gains must be reinvested.

You can reinvest part of your acceptable investments into other business ventures or expansions.