New Zealand Golden Visa: 2026 Data

More of our clients are asking how New Zealand’s investor route is actually performing rather than how it looks on paper, and Immigration New Zealand has now published the figures that answer it. The latest statistics from the body covers 1 April 2025 to 23 July 2026 and shows 837 applications from 2,732 people, NZD $4.845 billion committed or in the pipeline, and an average approval time of 36 working days.

That’s a substantial body of evidence for a program that reopened in its current form less than eighteen months ago. Under the previous settings, Immigration New Zealand received 115 applications from 362 people across two and a half years. The reform has changed the scale of the program entirely.

What the Active Investor Plus Visa Requires

The April 2025 reform replaced a single NZD $15 million requirement with two categories.

• Growth category: A minimum NZD $5 million invested for three years, directed at managed funds and direct investments in New Zealand businesses. The presence requirement is 21 days across the three years.
• Balanced category: A minimum NZD $10 million invested over five years, with a wider set of qualifying assets including bonds, listed equities, property development and philanthropy. The presence requirement is 105 days across the five years.

Processing Times Have Settled at 36 Working Days

Immigration New Zealand reports that, once investment documentation has been submitted, applications under the new settings are being approved in an average of 36 working days.

This is marginally longer than the 25–30 working days recorded earlier in the Program, which is unsurprising as application volumes increase. When we last covered the Program in March, the caseload stood at 609 applications. It has since risen to 837.

Importantly, an average processing time of 36 working days remains considerably faster than most comparable investor residence Programs globally, particularly given the significant increase in demand.

Applications take longer where Immigration New Zealand needs further information, and complex source-of-funds evidence is the usual reason.

Applicants who want to visit New Zealand before their resident visa is approved can look at an NZeTA if they hold a visa waiver passport, or a Specific Purpose Work Visa if they don’t.

Approvals Are Now Flowing at Scale

Of the 837 applications received since April 2025:

• 395 have been approved
• 285 have approval in principle
• 139 remain in progress
• 18 have been withdrawn or declined

The withdrawn and declined figure sits at roughly 2% of all applications, which points to a program where well-prepared applications get through. Growth accounts for 710 applications, or 83.3% of the total, against 127 in Balanced.

Where The Money Is Going

Of the NZD $4.845 billion figure, NZD $2.41 billion sits in the pipeline as in-progress and approved-in-principle applications, and NZD $2.3 billion is capital committed under approved applications with funds transferred to New Zealand.

Immigration New Zealand also breaks committed capital down by investment type. Within the Growth category, managed funds account for 49% of committed capital, with private credit the single largest destination at NZD $515.7 million.

Venture capital accounts for NZD $96.1 million and private equity NZD $60.3 million.

Discretionary investment management services take NZD $246.5 million.

Within the Balanced category, bonds dominate at NZD $398.5 million, followed by listed equities at NZD $66.2 million and property development at NZD $22 million.

For investors weighing the two categories, the data can be a useful pointer. The Growth route doesn’t require you to back early-stage companies directly.

Qualifying managed funds and private credit strategies carry the bulk of committed capital, and they suit investors who want the lower threshold and the shorter three-year term without taking on venture risk.

Where Applicants Come From

La Vida has seen a notable increase in enquiries from US applicants looking at New Zealand residency.

Data from Stats New Zealand shows applications have come from 45 nationalities. Taken together, China and Hong Kong account for 266 applications covering 863 people, which places Greater China alongside the United States as the program’s largest source of demand.

Below the leading group, applicants come from South Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands and around thirty further countries.

More than anything the data shows that a program drawing from 45 nationalities across North America, Europe and Asia isn’t dependent on any single market, and that tends to make government policy towards it more stable.

What the New Zealand Passport is Worth

The Active Investor Plus Visa grants residence, not citizenship, so the passport sits at the end of the route rather than the start.

Holders can apply for permanent residence once they’ve met the investment and presence conditions, and it’s possible to apply for citizenship after meeting New Zealand’s residence requirements.

For investors treating New Zealand as a long-term position rather than a mobility purchase, that endpoint is part of the calculation.

The La Vida Passport Value Index measures what a passport is actually worth rather than how many stamps it collects.

Most rankings count destinations and treat each one equally, which puts a passport reaching thirty small markets ahead of one reaching the world’s largest economies.

Our index ranks 199 passports across 227 destinations by two weighted measures. GDP reach is the share of world GDP a passport accesses visa-free, based on World Bank data.

Travel reach is the share of global international visitor arrivals it accesses, based on UN Tourism data. eVisa and visa-on-arrival both count as access.

La Vida’s Passport Index shows that the New Zealand passport ranks 29th of 199:

• GDP reach: 97.3% of world GDP accessible visa-free
• Travel reach: 98.5% of global international visitor arrivals
• Visa-free destinations: 212 of 227
• American, Chinese and Hong Kong nationals account for 543 of the 837 applications, and those three passports sit at very different points on the index.

For an applicant already holding strong access, New Zealand adds jurisdictional diversification rather than mobility. For others, it adds both.

What This Means For Investors Considering New Zealand

New Zealand’s Active Investor Plus Visa is becoming an increasingly compelling option for investors seeking long-term residence in a stable, English-speaking country with a strong legal system and attractive quality of life.

The revised Program offers considerably more than its predecessor.

There is also greater flexibility for investors looking to establish a home in the country. Since March 2026, qualifying Active Investor Plus visa holders have been able to apply to purchase or build residential property valued at more than NZD $5 million, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval.

Tax planning should still form part of any decision to spend significant time in New Zealand, particularly for internationally mobile investors with assets and structures across multiple jurisdictions.

With application numbers continuing to rise and processing times remaining comparatively fast, New Zealand has strengthened its position as one of the more attractive investor residence options available today.

If you are considering the New Zealand Active Investor Plus Visa, speak to La Vida’s expert advisors. We can assess your eligibility, explain the various investment routes and guide you through the application process.

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Tags: Golden Visa 2026, New Zealand Golden Visa News