NEW ZEALAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Lance Jones, Olivia Hausmann, Chris Dann, Sam Wilson, Geoff Hosking and Jordan Wright, Anthony Harper
These pathways include the revised Active Inves - tor Plus Visa (AIPV) (often referred to as the “Golden Visa”), which opened for applications in April, and the new Business Investor Visa (BIV), which opened for applications on 24 November 2025. The AIPV has two investment categories: • the “Growth Category”, which requires a mini - mum investment of NZD5 million over a three-year period in New Zealand businesses and approved managed funds, coupled with a condition appli - cants must be present in New Zealand for 21 days during the three-year period; and • the “Balanced Category”, which requires a mini - mum investment of NZD10 million over a five-year period in a broader range of investments, such as new property developments, bonds and listed equities coupled with a condition that applicants must be present in New Zealand for 105 days dur - ing the five-year period. Since opening in April 2025, the AIPV has received considerable interest, with Immigration New Zealand reporting over 340 applications amounting to NZD2.1 billion in investment. Most of the capital has flowed into New Zealand managed funds, credit funds and some PE funds, which are now in a position to deploy this capital. It is anticipated that this interest will con - tinue to grow, driven by the government’s continuing pro-investment reforms to the OIA and its broader strategy to market New Zealand as being “open for business” to overseas investors. The new BIV replaces the previous “Entrepreneur Work Visa”. It is designed to complement the AIPV and provides a pathway to residence for, ideally, expe - rienced businesspeople looking to invest in, operate and grow New Zealand businesses. Like the AIPV, the BIV has two investment options: • a NZD1 million investment in an existing business – this comes with a three-year work-to-residence pathway; and • a NZD2 million investment in an existing business – this comes with a 12-month fast-track to residence pathway.
A BIV applicant must either purchase a business out - right or acquire at least 25% of a business (provided the above monetary thresholds are met). At the end of the relevant BIV term, a BIV holder will be eligible to apply for a Business Investor Resident Visa. While the investment thresholds for the BIV are con - siderably lower than for the AIPV, it is expected that the AIPV will continue to be the visa of choice for high net worth investors. The AIPV offers a passive invest - ment pathway, while BIV holders must be actively involved in managing the business that they invest in. In addition, potential BIV applicants will need to con - sider the associated costs of purchasing a business (such as legal fees and accounting, financial and tax due diligence costs) beyond the costs of the visa itself, and also the financial risks associated with owning a business. These costs and risks may be a deterrent for applicants who do not have significant experience owning and operating businesses. It is therefore antic - ipated that the BIV will have only a moderate impact on driving up the levels of small-market inbound M&A. Alignment of OIA and visa settings – new OIA consent pathway to purchase high-value property To further support the pro-investment changes to its investment and visa settings, the government has recently enacted a new targeted consent pathway, which acts as an exemption to New Zealand’s “for - eign buyer ban” on residential property purchases by “overseas persons” who do not intend to permanently migrate to New Zealand (for example because they do not wish to change their tax residence). This new consent pathway will allow holders of a qualifying investor-resident visa, being an AIPV (or the existing Investor 1 or Investor 2 visa that the AIPV has since replaced), to purchase (or build) a single resi - dential property for NZD5 million or more. This change is already driving considerable interest from high-net- worth individuals from many countries, including the USA, UK, Germany and India. This change is important because it at least somewhat aligns New Zealand’s visa settings with its FDI regula - tory settings. Until now, a person could invest NZD5 million or NZD10 million to gain residence here based on holiday visitor time-in-country requirements but not
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