New Zealand Active Investor Plus, Growth category: half the Balanced minimum, on a much shorter list of investments
New Zealand · Active Investor Plus Growth
Investment required
NZD 5,000,000
Held 36 months
Government fee
NZD 21,590–27,470
Official fee, main applicant, initial application
Official source · Threshold checked 7 Oct 2026 · Last rule change in force: Eligibility criteria, 1 Jun 2026 (5 months ago) · Figures read from the official rules on file at the time this page was served.
Before you rely on this
General information only
This page sets out the published rules. It does not read your documents or check your figures: advice on your own application should come from a licensed immigration adviser or a lawyer.
To check that an adviser is registered, use the Immigration Advisers Authority's register of licensed advisers.
Growth asks for the figure above for three years, where Balanced asks for twice as much for five. The catch is the menu: Growth money counts only in managed funds on Invest New Zealand's list, in businesses it confirms, in listed shares a wholesale investor buys with its approval, and up to 20% in philanthropy, while bonds and property developments count only in Balanced.
Pick the category before the investments, or some of the money may not count. Immigration New Zealand judges each investment when it is made, and it must stay acceptable for the whole period: 36 months in Growth, 60 in Balanced. A Growth portfolio that leans on bonds or a property development fails that test, though the same holdings would be fine under Balanced.
Two categories side by side
- Growth. The figure above, kept invested for 36 months, with at least 21 days spent in New Zealand over that time. Direct investments and managed funds, both accepted by Invest New Zealand, with philanthropy capped at 20%.
- Balanced. Twice the figure above, kept for 60 months, with at least 105 days in New Zealand. Each extra million in Growth-type investments cuts that by 14 days, down to 63. Listed shares, bonds, philanthropy and property developments count, as do all Growth investments.
Since 1 April 2025 neither category has an English language requirement.
The order of steps
After approval in principle, you have six months to transfer the money, and a further six months can be granted. A managed fund must already be on Invest New Zealand's acceptable list. A direct investment in a business needs Invest New Zealand to confirm the business meets its criteria before the money goes in, not afterwards. Being on the list makes an asset count for the visa; it says nothing about how the asset will perform.
The service announced on 9 September 2026 that build-to-rent developments, held through approved managed funds, will count in Growth from December 2026, with the criteria still to be published. Until then, build-to-rent does not count in Growth at all. If a firm wants a placement fee before a fund or business has been confirmed, wait.
Government charges and firms' charges
The fee shown above is the immigration service's application fee plus its levy, lower for citizens of Pacific countries applying from abroad, and it is not refunded if the application is declined. Fund management fees, an adviser's fee and any commission are the firms' own, and none of them is a government charge.
Ask the adviser or fund manager:
- Which category is this portfolio built for, and why that one rather than the other?
- Is each fund on Invest New Zealand's acceptable list today?
- For a direct investment, will Invest New Zealand confirm the business before the money is transferred?
- Can each holding stay invested for the full 36 months, and is any fund locked up for longer?
The box above gives general information only: in New Zealand, advice on your own application should come from a licensed immigration adviser or a lawyer, and the register it links to shows whether an adviser is licensed.
General information, not legal advice.
