New Zealand Active Investor Plus

The Active Investor Plus visa is New Zealand's residency-by-investment route, relaunched on 1 April 2025 and administered by Immigration New Zealand. It offers two categories: Growth, at NZD 5,000,000 held for three years, and Balanced, at NZD 10,000,000 held for five. There is no English-language test, no business-experience requirement, no age limit and no cap on the number of visas issued.

It is worth being precise about which category is the fast track, because the structure is the opposite of what the price tags suggest. Growth is both the cheaper route and the faster one. It reaches a Permanent Resident Visa after three years and asks for only 21 days in New Zealand across that entire period. Balanced costs twice as much, takes five years, and requires 105 days. What the extra capital buys is lower risk, not speed: Balanced funds may sit in bonds, listed equities and property developments, while Growth money goes into direct business investment and approved managed funds that Immigration New Zealand itself describes as higher-risk and typically illiquid. The market has reached the same conclusion. Of the 904 applications lodged between April 2025 and September 2026, 85 per cent chose Growth.

What the programme has actually done

Unusually for this industry, the numbers are published by the government rather than estimated by advisers. Between 1 April 2025 and 2 September 2026, Immigration New Zealand recorded 904 applications, of which 467 were approved and a further 253 approved in principle. Capital committed stands at around NZD 4.935 billion across funds already transferred and the pipeline still in progress. The largest source markets are the United States (293 applications), China (168), Hong Kong (118), Germany (59) and Taiwan (47).

The Australia question, answered properly

This is the part of the New Zealand case that is most often stated loosely, so it is worth stating exactly. Australia closed its own Business Innovation and Investment Program permanently to new applications on 31 July 2024. There is no Australian investor visa. New Zealand's remains open, which makes it the only investor migration route into the trans-Tasman area.

A New Zealand citizen receives the Special Category visa (subclass 444) on arrival in Australia and may live, work and study there indefinitely. Since 1 July 2023 they may also apply for Australian citizenship directly, because New Zealanders holding that visa are treated as permanent residents for citizenship purposes.

What this does not mean is a shorter wait. Australia requires four years of lawful residence from everyone, New Zealanders included. The advantage is not time; it is certainty. New Zealanders are the only nationality handed Australian permanent residence automatically and at no cost, simply by arriving. Every other applicant must first win a permanent visa through a points test, an employer sponsor or a capped programme, and that contest is where the real years and the real uncertainty sit. And all of it follows New Zealand citizenship, not the investor visa itself.

Residence, permanent residence and citizenship are three different things

Approval grants a resident visa carrying the investment conditions. Once the 36-month (Growth) or 60-month (Balanced) period is complete and the presence requirement met, you apply for a Permanent Resident Visa, which is indefinite and removes those conditions. That application costs from NZD 315 and Immigration New Zealand decides 80 per cent within two weeks.

Citizenship is a separate and far more demanding matter, and the contrast deserves emphasis. Naturalisation requires 1,350 days physically present in New Zealand across the five years before applying, including at least 240 days in each of those five years. Set that against the Growth category's 21 days over three years and the gap is obvious: the low-presence quality that makes this visa attractive to globally mobile investors does not carry over to a passport. Anyone whose real objective is a second citizenship should understand that they would need to genuinely live in New Zealand for most of five years. All investor-visa conditions must also be discharged before a citizenship application can proceed.

From late 2027 most adult applicants for citizenship by grant will additionally sit a 20-question test with a 75 per cent pass mark. Applicants under 16 and over 65 are exempt, as are those applying before the change takes effect.

Property: three separate things that are often conflated

New Zealand is frequently described as offering no property route. That is not quite right, and the distinctions matter.

As a qualifying investment, the Balanced category accepts New Zealand property developments: new residential developments, and new or existing commercial or industrial developments requiring substantial improvement. From December 2026 Build to Rent becomes an acceptable Growth investment through approved managed funds, though the mechanics have not yet been published.

As a home to live in, the position changed on 6 March 2026. Holders of an Active Investor Plus visa may now obtain consent to buy or build one home priced above NZD 5,000,000, and may live in it, use it as a holiday home or run a business from it. This is a genuine carve-out from the Overseas Investment Act, which otherwise bars overseas persons from buying residential land. Consent must be obtained before purchase and cannot be granted ahead of an auction. Chattels and renovation costs do not count toward the threshold.

What property never does is qualify you for the visa by being your home. Land Information New Zealand is explicit: consent to buy a residential property for personal use "will not be considered an acceptable investment for the purposes of an investor visa application". Buying a house is a benefit of holding the visa, never a route to obtaining it.

Tax

New or returning migrants who have not been New Zealand tax residents for the previous ten years may qualify for a temporary exemption of up to 48 months on most foreign-sourced income, including overseas interest, dividends, rental income and foreign investment fund income. It is automatic, available once only, and does not cover income from employment or services performed overseas. Taking it means forgoing Working for Families and Best Start for that period.

New Zealand has no wealth tax, no inheritance tax and no comprehensive capital gains tax, though the bright-line rule taxes gains on residential property sold within two years of purchase, and the foreign investment fund rules apply to offshore holdings. Personal income tax is progressive to a top rate of 39 per cent.

Where this programme is a poor fit

We would rather say this plainly than have a client discover it later. The Growth category puts real capital at risk in illiquid businesses and funds, and is not a deposit or a bond. The visa confers no visa-free travel benefit of any kind, and New Zealand is a long way from Europe, the Gulf and North America. At NZD 5,000,000 it is among the most expensive residency programmes in the world. And if a passport within a few years is the objective, the five-year, 1,350-day presence test means this is not the route.

Where it fits exceptionally well is the investor who wants a stable, well-governed, English-speaking base with genuine optionality on Australia, who is content to hold a long-term position in the New Zealand economy, and who values not being required to relocate in order to keep the status.