Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188) vs NZ Active Investor Plus Visa
A factual side-by-side comparison of two residency programmes. All figures are drawn from the canonical program pages — follow either link in the table header for sources and the full profile.
Key Differences at a Glance
- ›NZ Active Investor Plus Visa is faster: 9 months vs 18 months for Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188).
- ›Faster to citizenship: NZ Active Investor Plus Visa at ~5 years, vs 9 for Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188).
- ›Lower capital: Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188) (150,000 USD) vs 9,000,000 for NZ Active Investor Plus Visa.
Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188) Australia · entrepreneur | NZ Active Investor Plus Visa New Zealand · investor | |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Australia | New Zealand |
| Category | Entrepreneur | Investor |
| Application Fee | $4,000 | $16,000 |
| Minimum Income | — | — |
| Minimum Investment | $150,000 | $9,000,000 |
| Processing Time | 18 months | 9 months |
| Family Included | Spouse or de facto partner and dependent children included in the provisional visa; all must meet health and character requirements | Spouse + dependent children under 24 included as principal applicant family |
| Path to PR | Yes — 5 years | Yes — 2 years |
| Path to Citizenship | Yes — 9 years | Yes — 5 years |
| Physical Presence | Business Innovation stream requires genuine establishment of a business in Australia and physical presence during the provisional visa period | 117 days minimum in NZ over the 4-year investment period (~30 days/year average; effectively very flexible) |
| Dual Citizenship | Allowed | Allowed |
| Tax Impact | Provisional visa holders residing in Australia are generally treated as Australian tax residents and taxed on worldwide income | NZ tax resident on worldwide income from 183-day rule. Transitional residency exemption (4 years on foreign-source income) materially attractive for new immigrants. No capital gains tax for individuals on most investment activity. |
| Tax Residency Trigger | 183 days/yr | 183 days/yr |
| Worldwide Taxation | Yes | Yes |
| Renewal Cost | — | — |
About Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188)
The Subclass 188 Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa is a provisional five-year visa requiring a state or territory government nomination, designed for business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs who wish to establish or manage a business in Australia. There are multiple streams — Business Innovation, Investor, Significant Investor (AUD$5M), and Entrepreneur — each with distinct net asset and business turnover thresholds. After meeting stream-specific requirements, holders can apply for the permanent Subclass 888 Business Innovation and Investment visa.
Full Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188) profile →About NZ Active Investor Plus Visa
Active Investor Plus, launched April 2025, replaces the previous Investor 1 + Investor 2 categories with a points-based, weighted-investment regime. Minimum NZD 5 million invested in qualifying assets weighted by category: direct investment (3× weighting), managed funds (2× weighting), bonds (1× weighting). The weighted total must reach NZD 15 million over the 4-year period. Practically, NZD 5M direct investment satisfies the floor. Major appeal: extremely modest physical-presence requirement (117 days over 4 years), generous transitional-residency tax exemption for new arrivals, and a 5-year path to NZ citizenship with no language test.
Full NZ Active Investor Plus Visa profile →Gotchas to Watch For
Australia Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Visa (Subclass 188)
- ⚠**PROGRAMME CLOSED TO NEW APPLICANTS from 1 July 2024.** Only previously-lodged cases in the pipeline are being processed. A successor visa was announced in the Dec 2024 migration strategy — verify current status.
- ⚠Provisional 4-year visa does NOT automatically convert to PR — the 888 requires active compliance with stream conditions
- ⚠State quotas dried up well before the federal closure — many would-be applicants received no nomination
NZ Active Investor Plus Visa
- ⚠Investment is committed for 4 years — early withdrawal triggers visa cancellation
- ⚠Weighting system means lower-risk bonds require nominally larger investments (NZD 15M floor reached at 1× weight)
- ⚠Transitional residency exemption is automatic but should be elected explicitly on IRD form IR3
- ⚠Specialist immigration lawyer fees are substantial — budget USD 30-80k for legal preparation
Neutral reference — we don't recommend one programme over another. Programmes change: always verify each detail against the official source linked on the individual program pages.