Immigration New Zealand has widened the scope of the Business Investor Work Visa, announcing three rule changes that took effect on July 6, 2026. Applicants can now invest in franchise businesses, purchase their nominated business through a New Zealand resident entity, and fund their investment with lawfully earned gifted capital.
The franchise provision amounts to a reversal. When the government unveiled the program in August 2025, it explicitly excluded franchised businesses from eligibility, alongside convenience stores, fast food outlets, and adult entertainment venues.
Franchise investments must still satisfy the program’s standing criteria, including the requirement that the nominated business employ at least five full-time equivalent staff.
In its announcement of the changes, Immigration New Zealand presents the package as an alignment of “visa settings more closely with real-world investment practices.”
A second change permits applicants to buy their nominated business through a New Zealand resident entity, meaning an organization treated as a New Zealand tax resident, in what the agency describes as a nod to standard commercial practice.
Gifted funds or assets are now also an acceptable source of investment capital, provided the money was lawfully earned.
Two Pathways, Few Takers
The Business Investor Work Visa opened for applications on November 24, 2025, replacing the retired Entrepreneur Work Visa. It offers two routes: a NZ$1 million (approximately US$570,000) investment in an established business with a three-year work-to-residence pathway, or a NZ$2 million (approximately US$1.14 million) investment with a fast track to residence after 12 months.
Even fast-track applicants must run their business for at least three years across both visas. Beyond the investment, applicants need NZ$500,000 in reserve funds and at least three years of acceptable business experience. The fee is NZ$12,380 (approximately US$7,100), inclusive of the immigration levy.
At launch, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford projected between 100 and 150 applicants in the program’s first year, expressing hope that the visa would “breathe new life into existing businesses across the country.” The early evidence, at least as far as the market can see, sits nowhere near that pace.
“To our knowledge, only one Business Investor Visa was approved between November 2025 and March 2026, so it has yet to gain any meaningful traction,” Mischa Mannix-Opie, Director of Client Experience at Greener Pastures New Zealand, tells IMI.
Mannix-Opie nonetheless reads the update as “another example of New Zealand taking a practical approach to its immigration settings,” observing that “rather than standing still, we’re seeing a willingness to make sensible improvements where needed.”
She is more guarded on whether the loosened rules will move the needle. “Whether that translates into a significant increase in Business Investor Visa applications is less certain, particularly given the program has seen very limited uptake since it launched,” she cautions.
The Quieter Sibling of a Booming Program
The visa’s sluggish start stands in contrast to the Active Investor Plus Visa, which drew 573 applications representing NZ$3.39 billion in potential investment in the ten months following its April 2025 overhaul.
Stanford confirmed in February that the government had shelved a planned third business-visa category for startups, officials having been unable to land on a workable framework.
The agency has not indicated whether further adjustments to the program are under consideration, nor has it published application or approval data since the visa opened in November.
