New Zealand · Residency by investment
Investor 1 and Investor 2 Resident Visas
Closed
Last verified July 2026
This route closed to new applications on 27 July 2022 and was replaced by the Active Investor Plus visa. Investor 1 required NZD 10m over 3 years. Investor 2 required NZD 3m over 4 years, along with an English requirement, an age cap of 65 and a points test. None of these categories remain.
This programme is closed. We keep the page up because agents still advertise it and clients still ask. Nothing below is available to new applicants.
This is worth knowing because the presence rules used to run the other way. The old categories demanded real residence. The new one does not. Families who were told that New Zealand requires you to live there were given advice that was true in 2021 and has not been true since 2022.
Qualifying routes
3M NZD
Investor 2 (closed)
4-year hold, points tested, age cap of 65, English required. Closed July 2022.
10M NZD
Investor 1 (closed)
3-year hold, no points test. Closed July 2022.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 3M NZD
- Total landed cost
- Not applicable. This route is closed.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Physical presence
- Historically, presence requirements ran to 44 days per year for Investor 1 or 146 days per year for Investor 2. That is far heavier than the AIP route that replaced them.
- Family
- Not applicable. This route is closed
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable. This route is closed.
- Citizenship
- Not applicable. This route is closed.
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Not applicable. This route is closed.
What can go wrong
- Still listed as live on some advisory sites. It is not. It has been shut for four years.
- Passive, bond-style qualifying investment died with these categories. Under AIP Growth, the capital must be genuinely at risk.