Professional Investor

Professional Investor category requirements
All applicants – you, your partner, and your dependent children (if applicable) must meet our health, character and English language requirements (see below). You – the principal applicant – must also have at least four years' business experience. The other requirements are set out below.

Age
You (the principal applicant) must be aged 64 or younger.

Investment funds and/or assets
You must nominate funds and/or assets equivalent to at least NZ$10 million. You will have to provide evidence showing that that these funds and/or assets:

• are owned by you or jointly by you, your partner and/or dependent children
• are unencumbered, ie not subject to any mortgage, lien, charge and/or encumbrance (whether equitable or otherwise) or any other creditor claims
• have been earned or acquired legally
• are transferable through the banking system (we will not be able to approve your application if you are unable to transfer funds to New Zealand through the banking system).

If your application is approved in principle, you will need to provide verifiable documents to show that the funds you transfer to New Zealand came from the funds and/or assets that you nominate. You will need to invest a minimum of NZ$10 million in an acceptable investment(s) in New Zealand, and NZ$2 million of that must be actively invested.

You cannot nominate investment funds or assets you intend to bring to New Zealand for your personal use – for example a personal residence, car, or boat.

English language requirements
We require people to have a reasonable standard of English to ensure they have the best opportunity to settle successfully into work and life in New Zealand. Our requirements are different for the principal applicant and for his/her partner and/or dependent children.

Principal applicant
To meet our English language requirements you must:

• have an English speaking background OR
• be a competent user of English OR
• have an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) certificate (no more than 2 years old at the time you lodge your application for residence), which shows you gained at least two band scores of 4 or more in the IELTS General or Academic Module.

We may still require you to provide an IELTS certificate to confirm you meet our English requirements.

Partner and dependent children
To meet our English language requirements partners and dependent children aged 16 or more included in your application must meet the same requirements as the principal applicant (see above).

However, if your partner and/or dependent children do not yet meet the minimum standard of English, they can pre-purchase ESOL tuition in New Zealand. You purchase this tuition from us, on behalf of New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Commission. Payment of this tuition charge is not due until your application is approved.

After residence is approved
If your residence application is approved you will have to retain your investment funds in an acceptable investment(s) for four years. You (the principal applicant) will have to spend at least 109 days in New Zealand each year in years 2, 3 and 4 of your four-year investment period.