Entrepreneur Resident Visa

You can apply for this visa if you have been self-employed in New Zealand at least 6 months, or have operated a self-employed business for 2 years on another visa.

  • Length of stay

    Live, work and study

    indefinitely

  • Cost

    From

    NZD $14890

  • Processing time

    Data

    not available

To apply you must:

  • be a fit and proper person
  • have a current Entrepreneur Work Visa, if you have been self-employed for less than 2 years
  • have a business that is trading profitably
  • have a business that complies with New Zealand employment and immigration law
  • not have received any welfare benefits or assistance
  • speak and understand English
  • meet the other requirements of this visa. 

This visa lets you:

  • live, work and study in New Zealand
  • continue to operate your own business
  • include your partner, and dependent children aged 24 and younger, in your visa application.

If you apply having been self-employed for less than 2 years, you will need to have an Entrepreneur Work Visa, have invested capital of at least NZD $500,000 and have created 3 new jobs in New Zealand.

How long you can stay

An Entrepreneur Resident Visa lets you stay in New Zealand indefinitely.

Who can apply

Check if you are eligible to apply for this visa and what supporting documents and information you need to provide.

Identity

As proof of your identity, you must provide:

  • 2 acceptable photos of your head and shoulders
  • your original or a certified copy of your passport or
  • your original or a of your

Note

If you provide a certified copy, we may request your original passport to complete your application.

Applicants from Hong Kong or Macao applying within Hong Kong or Macao

You must also provide a copy of your identity card.

Citizens of Indonesia

If you are a citizen of Indonesia, you must also provide your  .

Applicants applying from New Caledonia

You must also provide a copy of your carte d’assuré.

Even if your partner and children are not coming with you, you must also provide:

  • copies of their passports
  • a copy of your livret de famille.

Applicants applying from French Polynesia or Wallis and Futuna

If you are not a French national, you must also provide a copy of your carte d’assuré.

Health

You must be in good health.

You must have a chest X-ray and a medical examination as proof of your good health.

Character

You must be of good character.

If you, or anyone else included in your application, are aged 17 or older you must provide a police certificate from:

  • all the countries you are a citizen of, and
  • any other country you have stayed in for 12 months or more over the last 10 years, even if it was not all in the same stay.

How to get a police certificate

Note

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old at the time you apply.

Fit and proper person

You must be a fit and proper person.

You must confirm in the application form that you meet fit and proper person requirements.

To be a fit and proper person, all businesses you have influence over must have complied with all immigration, employment and taxation laws. You must also:

  • have never been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office or the New Zealand police for any offence resulting from business dealings
  • have no convictions for an offence involving dishonesty
  • have never been involved in business fraud or financial impropriety.

Note

We will contact you if you need to provide further information.

English language

You must speak and understand English.

You can show us you speak English by either providing:

  • an acceptable English language test result
  • evidence you have an English-speaking background
  • evidence you are a competent user of English for other reasons.

Note

English language test results must be no more than 2 years old.

Relationship with family

If you include your partner and children in your application, you must have a genuine relationship with them.

You must provide evidence:

  • of your relationship with your partner and dependent children, like a marriage certificate and birth certificates
  • that your partner and dependent children meet the identity, character, health and English language requirements for this visa.

Note

If your partner and dependent children aged 16 or older do not speak English, you can purchase English language lessons for them to meet this requirement. You will have to pay us for English language classes before we can grant you a visa.

If your partner or dependent children have, or applied for, a New Zealand temporary entry visa based on their relationship with you, you must include them in your residence application.

Your work visa

You must have a current Entrepreneur Work Visa if you have been self-employed for less than two years.

We will check our records for evidence you hold an appropriate work visa.

We may be able to accept another current visa, if you have been working in your own business in New Zealand for at least 2 years and both:

  • your visa allows self-employment in New Zealand
  • you meet all the requirements for an Entrepreneur Work Visa.

Entrepreneur Work Visa

New Zealand business

You must have either set-up or purchased at least 25% of the shareholding in a New Zealand business and have been running that business for at least 6 months.

You must provide evidence that shows how long you have been running your business in New Zealand, which may include:

  • a certificate of incorporation 
  • audited financial statements
  • GST records
  • other tax records
  • export documents
  • employment agreements
  • wage and salary records
  • documents showing you have purchased or leased the business site
  • invoices for business equipment and supplies
  • any other documents that demonstrate the operation of the business.

Note

If you have been running your business for less than 6 months you will not be eligible for this visa.

Business plan

Your business must have realised the benefits outlined in your business plan.

You must provide evidence your business has met or exceeded the goals outlined in your business plan.

Business profitability

Your business must be profitable.

Your business must be both:

  • trading profitably (or have the potential to become profitable within 12 months)
  • making enough money to pay yourself an annual salary that is at least as much as New Zealand’s full-time 

Economic growth

Your business must be contributing to New Zealand’s economic growth.

You must provide evidence that your business is contributing to New Zealand’s economic growth in one of the following ways:

  • introducing new technology, management or technical skills
  • enhancing existing technology, management or technical skills
  • introducing new products or services
  • enhancing existing products or services
  • creating new export markets
  • expanding existing export markets
  • creating at least 1 full-time job for a New Zealander (or at least 3 full-time jobs, if you have been in business for less than 2 years)
  • offering new skills, networks, management capability and/or capital that increase an existing business’ financial performance.

For us to consider a product or service ‘new’ it would need to:

  • be the only one of its kind in New Zealand
  • be not previously available in the New Zealand location you run your business.
  • offer a significant enhancement or product line not previously provided by an existing New Zealand business or in the location you run your business.

Capital investment

You must have invested at least as much capital as outlined in your business plan.

If you have been running your business for less than 2 years, your investment must be no less than NZ $500,000.

Note

Capital investments exclude:

    • passive or speculative investments, like reserve funds or term deposits
    • items for your own use, like your car, boat or home
    • any salary or wages paid to you or your immediate family
    • residential property investments, unless they are part of the business plan.

Employment and immigration law

Your business must comply with New Zealand employment and immigration law.

We may ask you to provide evidence that the business:

  • pays workers no less than the minimum wage or other contracted industry standard
  • meets holiday and other leave requirements
  • provides a safe workplace
  • only employs people who are allowed to work in New Zealand.

If the business is included on the list of non-compliant employers maintained by the Labour Inspectorate then we cannot approve your application.

Employers on stand-down

No welfare assistance

You must not have received any welfare benefits or assistance.

If you or anyone included in your residence application, have received any welfare benefits or assistance since you were granted a Work Visa, you will not be eligible to apply for residence.

When you complete your residence application, we will ask for your authority to contact Work and Income to check if you have received any welfare benefits or assistance.

Work and Income website

Businesses less than 2 years old

If you have been running your business for less than 2 years, there are extra requirements you must meet.

We will only consider waiving the minimum capital investment requirement, if both:

  • your business is in science, ICT or another high-value export sector
  • your business shows a high level of innovation or short-term growth prospects.

For us to consider your business high-value export business, it would need to aim to:

  • create 5 or more jobs for New Zealanders
  • turnover NZ $500,000 in annual exports.

For us to consider your business has a high level of innovation, you would need show us:

  • you have discovered new ways to produce more goods or services without increasing the production costs
  • your business is likely to succeed because of your innovation.

Note

We do not accept casual or contract roles as evidence of new jobs.

How to pay and submit

When you arrive

Entry permission

You must apply for permission to enter New Zealand. You do this by completing a New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD) form.

You can start your digital declaration any time, but the earliest you can submit it is 24 hours before starting your travel to New Zealand.

A paper declaration form is available for travellers who cannot complete it online.

New Zealand Traveller Declaration

New Zealand Customs and Biosecurity also check that you meet their entry requirements.

Arriving in New Zealand

Alert

You can be refused entry permission if you:

  • do not meet our character requirements
  • have had a change in circumstances since we issued your visa
  • refuse to let us take your photo, fingerprints or an iris scan.

While you are in New Zealand

These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa.

Work

If you have been operating your business for less than 2 years, you must keep working in your own business for 2 years.

Note

The 2-year time period includes any time you have been working for yourself in New Zealand on an Entrepreneur Work Visa.

If you are unable to continue working in your own business, you and your family may have to leave New Zealand.

Capital investment

If you have been operating your business for less than 2 years, you must keep your nominated capital invested in your business for 2 years.

Note

The 2-year time period includes any time you have been working for yourself in New Zealand on an Entrepreneur Work Visa.

If you are unable to retain your capital investment, you and your family may have to leave New Zealand.

New jobs

If you have operated your business for less than 2 years, you must continue to employ people in the new jobs created, for a minimum of 2 years.

Note

The 2-year time period includes any time you have been working for yourself in New Zealand on an Entrepreneur Work Visa.

If you are unable to continue to employ people in the new jobs you created over the 2-year period, you and your family may have to leave New Zealand.

Contact details

You must provide us with your address and other contact details and let us know if these change while you are in New Zealand.

Note

We will need to get in touch with you to take part in an evaluation of the Entrepreneur Residence Visa Category.

Travel

You can travel in and out of New Zealand as many times as you like for 2 years.

To travel after that, you will need to apply for a variation of conditions or a Permanent Resident Visa.

Note

If you are outside of New Zealand when your travel conditions expire, your visa will expire as well.

Keep your visa in a valid passport

If you want to travel, your visa must be in a valid passport.

If your passport expires, you must apply to transfer your visa to a new passport before you can travel.

Transferring your visa to a new passport

Note

To transfer your visa, you must:

    • send us your old and new passports
    • complete an ‘Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa’
    • pay a transfer fee.

Application for transfer or confirmation of a visa

Fees, decision times and where to apply