We are now a few weeks in to the revised Active Investor Plus (“AIP”) Resident Visa programme which was announced with great fanfare in early February. So how is it shaping up?
By the Numbers
By all accounts, spectacularly well. The scheme opened on 1 April. In its first month or so, it attracted 77 applications, and 16 had already been approved in principle – that is, investors were cleared to transfer and invest in New Zealand in order to receive their Resident Visas. At an event I attended less than 2 weeks ago co-hosted by the Migrant Investor & Entrepreneur Association, the Minister of immigration was able to give even better figures, well over a hundred applications. More than half have been from the US, with strong showings from European countries and Hong Kong.
Some of these came from people who switched over from an existing application under the old AIP policy, but not enough to take away from the undoubted popularity of the new programme. To give some context, less than 100 cases were filed in the whole two and a half years of the previous AIP scheme up to March 2025. It was, as the Minister has been fond of saying, quite the lame duck.
What’s the Drawcard? Time, Risk and English
Time
People can choose to apply under the following categories (values in NZ dollars):
- Growth: $5 million for 3 years, in Direct Investments or Managed Funds. Visa holders only have to be in the country for 3 weeks during the 3 years, or a week a year;
- Balanced: $10 million for 5 years, in the Growth-type investments or in a wider range of targets including residential or commercial property developments, listed (share market) equities, or bonds. The time-in-NZ requirement is only 105 days in the 5 years, or 3 weeks per year.
The days people have to be here to meet visa conditions have been slashed back. This is important for some, perhaps many, high net worth individuals who have lives and business interests all over the world. We in NZ tend to forget that others are not used to the long travel times that we are accustomed to down at the bottom of the Pacific.
The 3-year investment period for Growth is a wind-back from the 4 years previously imposed. In addition, all Investor Residents had to spend nearly 4 months in NZ during that 4-year period. Perhaps this is one reason why Growth category applications form a significant majority of those that Immigration has received in the last month or two.
Risk
The Growth category actually presents a similar risk profile to the old AIP option, which rewarded people who chose to invest directly in entities like start-ups (Direct Investments) and venture capital and similar funds (Managed Funds) by allowing them to invest less. The time factor is important here, though. The volatility of the world’s economy and geopolitics still makes 3 years look like a long time, but it is less than 4, or 5, years. It is interesting that Growth applications have been so popular, and I have to think that the time factor is helping here.
The other advantage of the new process is that it is a heck of a lot simpler to understand. The previous AIP rules set a multi-stage timetable for bringing funds over, investing some right away or keeping them in “holding investments” for a while, completing the full investment by a certain date . . . it did everyone’s head in. And that is not a good feeling when you are deciding what to do with millions of dollars in a country you have never lived in.
Then there is the Balanced category. The range of allowable investments is much greater. Yes, you have to tie up $10 million for 5 years, but you could drop it all in bonds or in a fund portfolio dealing in the NZ share market, with some confidence that it will still be there at the other end. Not everyone who can afford this kind of “golden visa” is keen at playing the high-rolling gambler with their hard earned wealth. One reason that the old Investor 1 and 2 categories were so popular (replaced by AIP in September 2022) was that they were a fairly safe and simple bet for migrants to secure Resident Visas for themselves and their families.
English
A welcome and common-sense move was to ditch any requirement for an Investor applicant to do an English test. In retrospect, it was an embarrassment for us to be asking successful, well-travelled people to sit in a classroom just because they didn’t happen to go to school in the UK or the States. As I pointed out in a news story earlier this year, those who possess the means to qualify under this policy can pay interpreters if they have to.
The Time is Now
There is no indication so far that the popularity of Active Investor is slowing down. Immigration NZ put extra resources in place to meet the demand, and the word so far is that they are processing applications up to approval in principle stage in weeks, and even days.
The momentum could slip, staff could be diverted to meet a crisis demand elsewhere, political pressure could swing against encouraging wealthy foreigners to buy up our companies and push up rents. The process could get horribly bogged down, as when the $10 million Investor 1 cohort of applicants were left waiting years even to get their case assigned to someone. This is a great time to move on the opportunity. Along with our professional colleagues, we are open for business. Book an appointment to discuss how you might qualify.