The Active Investor Plus Visa: For wealthy investors who don’t want to run a business

New Zealand’s Active Investor Plus Visa (launched April 2025) represents a fundamentally different approach to immigration than the Business Investor Visa. While the Business Investor Visa targets people who want to actively manage operations, the Active Investor Plus Visa is designed for wealthy individuals who want to contribute capital without the hands-on commitment of running a business. If you have significant wealth but don’t want the daily responsibilities of business management, this is your pathway.

Gilligan Sheppard is active in advising investors and business owners alike on what this means for New Zealand, its businesses, and investors. Some key information on the different options available follows – please reach out directly if you need assistance navigating this space as a business owner or an investor.

Capital versus skill: Understanding the fundamental difference

The Business Investor Visa asks you to bring both capital and skill. You’re expected to live in New Zealand, actively manage a business, create jobs, and contribute your expertise to growing an operation. You’re trading your business acumen and daily involvement for residence.

The Active Investor Plus Visa asks you to bring capital, period. You don’t need to manage anything. You don’t need to live here. You don’t even need to set up a home. Your contribution is purely financial; you’re providing the investment capital that New Zealand businesses need to grow, and in return, you receive a residence visa.

This distinction matters because it determines everything else: the minimum investment amounts, where your money can go, how much time you spend in the country, and what New Zealand expects from you in return.

The two investment categories: Active and Balanced

The Active Investor Plus Visa offers two distinct categories, and the differences extend well beyond the investment amounts.

The Active category requires a $5 million NZD investment over three years. You must spend just 21 days in New Zealand during that entire period. Your investment must go into either approved businesses directly or approved investment funds that exclusively invest in productive businesses; not property, not passive holdings, but operating companies that create jobs and economic value.

The Balanced category requires a $10 million NZD investment over five years. You must spend 105 days in New Zealand during that period. Your investment options are much broader; you can invest in listed equities, bonds, managed funds, property developments, and other passive investment categories that form the general capital pool New Zealand needs.

The names tell you everything. ‘Active’ means your capital goes to businesses actively building and creating. ‘Balanced’ means your capital can flow into the full range of investment opportunities, including more conservative, passive options.

Where your money goes: The critical difference

For the Balanced category, your $10 million flows into New Zealand’s general capital pool. You can invest in listed companies on the New Zealand Exchange, bonds, managed investment portfolios, and commercial property developments. This is traditional wealth management; the kind of diversified portfolio most New Zealanders use when accumulating wealth. The country needs this capital because there’s been significant capital drain to other countries in recent years, and these investments need replacement.

The Active category is where things get interesting.

Your $5 million can only go to two places: directly into approved businesses or into approved funds that exclusively invest in productive businesses.

For direct business investment, you’re targeting companies that have reached critical mass but can’t access the capital they need to scale. These businesses must apply to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) to be listed as eligible recipients of Active category investment. They’re substantial operations at a crucial growth stage; big enough to absorb $5 million productively, but unable to secure that capital through traditional channels.

For fund investment, you’re placing capital with professional fund managers who invest exclusively in startups and growing businesses. No property. No passive holdings. Only productive businesses. This is the ecosystem where New Zealand’s success stories like Xero and Trade Me were born and grew. Your capital becomes the fuel for the next generation of high-growth companies.

This is why the Active category exists. It directs substantial capital precisely where it creates the most economic impact: growing businesses that need funding to scale, and startups that need early-stage capital to develop.

The 21-day requirement: Smarter than it looks

At first glance, the Active category’s requirement of just 21 days in New Zealand over three years seems almost negligible. The Balanced category requires 105 days over five years. Still minimal, but five times more. Why the difference?

The design is cleverer than it appears.

If you invest $5 million directly into a business, you’ll likely own a substantial shareholding (potentially 50% or more). You become a major shareholder in an operation you’ve invested millions into. At that level of ownership, 21 days isn’t a binding constraint. It’s essentially meaningless because you’ll naturally want to be here far more often to protect your investment.

You’ll sit on the board. You’ll monitor performance. You’ll ensure your capital is being deployed effectively. The 21-day minimum is almost an invitation; once you make the investment, you’ll discover you want to come to New Zealand regularly anyway. The requirement doesn’t force you to be here; your own financial interest does.

The Balanced category works differently. When you place $10 million into passive investments (listed equities, bonds, managed funds), you don’t need hands-on involvement. Your investments are professionally managed. That’s precisely why the 105-day requirement exists: to ensure you actually spend time in New Zealand, establish connections, and potentially purchase property or otherwise contribute to the economy beyond your investment portfolio.

It’s counterintuitive but deliberate. The category requiring active investment has minimal time requirements because the investment itself drives engagement. The category allowing passive investment has higher time requirements to compensate for the hands-off nature of the capital deployment.

Navigating the options

With the Active Investor Plus Visa having launched in April 2025 and the Business Investor Visa categories having launched in November 2025, New Zealand now offers multiple pathways for different types of investors. The information can be overwhelming—different investment amounts, different time requirements, different eligible investments, different pathways to residence.

If you’re an investor planning your approach, the Gilligan Sheppard specialist advisory team can help you navigate these options and prepare your investment strategy.

If you’re a business owner at critical mass looking to access this investment capital, we can help you prepare your business to attract Active category investors or work toward NZTE listing. This might involve financial restructuring, governance improvements, or strategic positioning to make your business attractive to overseas investors.

If you’re preparing a business for sale to investors under the Business Investor Visa, we can guide you through the due diligence preparation and valuation process to ensure you’re positioning your business effectively for this specific buyer pool.

Disclaimer: This article discusses the Active Investor Plus Visa category, a topic that typically requires guidance from licensed professionals. For detailed advice on immigration policy and applications, you should contact a licensed immigration adviser or lawyer. For services related to business due diligence, business proposals, valuations, investment strategy, and advice on preparing your business to attract investors, contact Gilligan Sheppard’s specialist advisory team.