How to apply for an Entrepreneur Resident Visa?

• You can continue your business in New Zealand under this visa.
• You can also include your family members and partner in your visa application.
• If you have been self-employed for less than two years, you must apply for an Entrepreneur Work visa. You should also invest at least NZ $ 500,000 and create three jobs in this country.
• Since you must participate in an evaluation of the Entrepreneur Residence Visa Category, you must notify New Zealand Immigration if there is a change in your contact information or address.
• You can enter or leave New Zealand for two years. After two years, you need to obtain a variation of condition or Permanent Resident Visa.
• If you’ve been running your business for less than two years, you must keep your nominated capital in your business for two years.
• If you have operated your business for less than two years, you must continue to employ people in the new job position for a minimum of 2 years.
• If you’ve been operating your business for less than 2 years, you must keep working in your own business for 2 years.

What are the requirements to obtain an Entrepreneur Resident Visa?

• To receive the New Zealand Entrepreneur Resident Visa, you must provide two acceptable photos. The photos should be in such a way that your head and shoulders are completely visible.
• You must provide the original passport or a certified copy of it as well as a certificate of identity.
• It is also necessary to present the original birth certificate.
• You should also do a medical examination and chest x-ray to prove your good health.
• If you aged 17 or older, you must provide a police certificate. This certificate is issued by one of the following:
• Your country of citizenship
• Or a country where you have been for at least 12 months or more over the last ten years

Your police certificate must be less than six months old when you apply for the New Zealand Entrepreneur Resident Visa.

• You must declare in your Entrepreneur Resident Visa application that you will meet the requirements of a fit and proper person. All businesses you have influence over must comply with immigration employment and tax laws. You should also not be investigated by the Serious Fraud Office or the New Zealand Police for any offense related to your business. Note that you should never be involved in business fraud or financial impropriety.
• You must be able to speak English. To prove this ability, consider the following:
• The result of an acceptable English language test
• Evidence related to your English-speaking background
• Evidence that you can speak English well for other reasons.
• You can also enter your family members in your visa application. For this purpose, it is necessary to prove your relationship with family members by providing documents such as marriage and birth certificates. Then know that your family members must also meet character and health requirements. They must be able to speak English. Otherwise, they have to attend language classes in New Zealand. In this case, you must pay the tuition fee before granting the visa. Also, if your family members have a temporary New Zealand visa based on their relationship with you, you will still need to include them in your visa application.
• If you have been self-employed for less than two years, you must have an entrepreneur work visa.
• You either have to set up a business in New Zealand or buy at least a 25% shareholding in New Zealand and run that business for at least six months. In this case, the following items are required:
• A certificate of incorporation
• Audited financial statements
• GST records
• Tax records
• Export documents
• Employment contracts
• Salary records
• Evidence proving you have acquired or leased the business site
• Invoices for business equipment and supplies
• Other documents that prove the operation of the business.
• The benefits listed in your business plan must be realized before you can apply for this visa.
• Your business should be profitable.
• Your business must contribute to New Zealand’s economic growth. Therefore, your job should have the following characteristics:
• Develop new technology or management skills
• Strengthen existing technology or management skills
• Create a new product or service
• Improve current services and products
• Has created a new export market or strengthened the current export market
• Has created several job opportunities for New Zealanders

A product or service is recognized new if:

• Be the only one of its kind in this country
• Be not previously available in the location, you initiate your business.
• Extend a significant enhancement or product line not previously provided by an existing business or in the location you run your business.
• You must have invested, as outlined in your If you have been operating your business for less than 24 months, your investment must be at least NZ $500,000.
• You must not have received any assistance or welfare benefits to qualify for this visa.
• Your business must comply with immigration and employment laws. So you need to consider the following:
• You should not pay less than the minimum wage to your employees.
• You must meet the requirements for leave and holidays for your employees.
• You need to create a safe workplace.
• You need to hire people who are allowed to work in New Zealand.
• You can be exempt from the minimum investment requirement if
• Your business is in the field of science, ICT, and high-value export sector
• Your business must has a high level of innovation or, show a positive growth rate in the short term

Your business is considered high-value export if it:

• Creates at least five jobs for New Zealanders
• Has turnover NZ $ 500,000 in annual exports.

A high level of innovation means:

• Providing new ways to produce new products and services so that production costs do not increase
• Your business is more likely to succeed due to the innovation you offer.

How to apply for an Entrepreneur Resident Visa?

You can apply for this permission when you have been working in your business for six months. If you have invested less than NZ $ 500,000 or have created less than three jobs, you must first wait two years and then apply for this visa.

1. To apply for this visa, you must first complete the Entrepreneur Residence Visa Application and then submit the completed form along with the visa application fee, immigration levy, and supporting documents.
2. New Zealand Immigration will review your documents and will contact you if you need to send more documents. If you need to submit more information, New Zealand Immigration will tell you exactly what information you must submit by what date.
3. If you have been self-employed for less than two years, there are conditions that you must meet. These conditions will be related to maintaining the capital and the number of job opportunities you create. You must have a valid visa if you are applying for a residence visa in New Zealand. If your current visa has expired, you should first apply for another temporary visa. Then complete the residency application. Please note that Interim Visas are not issued to those intending to obtain a residence class visa.

How much does it cost to apply for an Entrepreneur Resident Visa?

Visa applicants often have to pay NZ $ 4,140 as a visa application fee. This fee is non-refundable. In other words, New Zealand Immigration receives this fee for processing the visa application. This cost will not be refunded to you even if your visa application is rejected.

What is the processing time of an Entrepreneur Resident Visa?

90% of the submitted applications will be processed and completed within 15 months.

Let’s sum up…

As we explained, the Entrepreneur Resident Visa is for those who run their own business in New Zealand. We also explained the requirements, the application process, the visa application fee, and the processing time of this visa. In other sections of the Visa Library, you can find information on how to obtain visas for this country as well as other countries.

If you have experience in obtaining this visa or other visas from other countries, you can share it with other readers and us through the comments section. You can also ask your questions through this section so that we can answer them as soon as possible.