New Zealand Active Investor Plus Visa
- Processing time
- 3–6 months
- Physical presence
- The Growth route asks for a modest number of days in New Zealand over the three years; the Balanced route asks for less. A permanent resident visa follows after the holding period, provided the investment and presence conditions are met.
- Family
- The main applicant can include a partner and dependent children up to 24.
See the investment routes and what each one really costs →
Limits and drawbacks
- This is residence, not a passport. It leads to a permanent resident visa after three or five years; citizenship is a separate, later step requiring genuine residence.
- The tickets are high — from NZD 5 million — and the Growth capital sits in higher-risk managed funds or businesses, not a safe deposit.
- New Zealand taxes residents on worldwide income; the four-year transitional exemption is real but temporary, after which worldwide income becomes taxable.
- New Zealand is geographically remote, which matters for time zones, travel and running a business elsewhere.
What it gets you
- Residence in a stable, high-quality-of-life country with strong institutions
- No age, English-language or business-experience requirement, and a light in-country presence
- A recoverable investment, not a fee — capital can be returned after the holding period
- A four-year transitional-resident exemption on most foreign income for new residents