My friend has a multinational retail business with stores in Australia and New Zealand. He is offering me a position on the board if I can invest $5 million New Zealand dollars to his business. I also want to use this money to get myself and my family permanent residency in New Zealand. However, I was told that if investing in a company with international components, only the portion that is invested in New Zealand could be considered as acceptable. What kind of evidence should I provide to verify that the required amount of investment goes to the New Zealand part of this business?
Depending on the nature of the business, e.g., an investment company, your portion must be invested in New Zealand assets. If it is a trading company operating globally, it can be hard to distinguish the local investment from the overseas portion. I suggest you arrange pre-assessment once you have more details of the business. Alternatively, you can seek comments directly with INZ.
Unfortunately, this is a very long and complex question and forms one of the key aspects of the application. I suggest that you engage the services of an adviser.
Before you look at your investment options, it's very important you don't do any transfers or investments until you've discussed the full process with your licensed immigration adviser. For an investor visa you will need to be able to trace the funds invested from the original source, and these funds will need to be evidenced and approved by Immigration NZ as being legally earned or acquired with accepted demonstration of ownership. The method of transfer of funds to New Zealand will also need to be acceptable. The investment funds must be invested in New Zealand dollars and in New Zealand. For private equity in a company, it is also required that the investment is to be actively used by the company to (accepted examples are to fund company growth, reduce company debt or make capital purchases). The evidence will need to include the transfer of funds from the original approved source where the funds were earned, transfer of funds to NZ and subsequent transfer of funds to the company in New Zealand. Additional evidence will be required to support the intended use of the funds which may be contractual agreements or other relevant documentation signed with the company, in addition to evidence of the claimed equity ownership. This is not an exhaustive list of evidence but will point you in the right direction. Do discuss in detail with your licensed immigration adviser.
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