Business Visa / Long Term Business Visa

This article is about Immigration Policy but it is not a description of policy. In our opinion simplified descriptions of policy are dangerous. If you want to know why we think that, read “Why things go wrong”.

A work visa allows entry, for a limited time, with the right to work.

Business visa.

For many business visitors it is easy to just arrive in New Zealand and do some business and move on. But the fact that it is so easy in most cases hides the fact that there is a policy in place, and as with all temporary entry policies things may not be as easy and clear as they first appear.

In the section on visitor visas we discussed the concept of “visa free” and “non visa free” entry. In brief, whether one can just arrive as a visitor, or whether one has to go through a complex process of prior application and approval, will depend on your nationality. So if an intending business traveller is from a country that benefits from visa free entry, and is going to be in and out of New Zealand within three months, there is no need to apply for a specific business visa.

If, however, an intending business traveller is of a nationality that is not offered visa free entry, OR if of visa free status, but intending being in New Zealand for more than three months, then a business visa should be applied for.

Business visas are normally readily granted when immigration authorities are satisfied with the evidence of genuine business involvement with New Zealand. Problems arise when applicants are impatient and fail to recognise that while some things may be “self evident” to them; they are not necessarily self evident to the approving official. Applications therefore need to be carefully prepared, knowing what evidence the officials are looking for.

Long Term Business Visa (LTBV)

Holding a Long Term Business Visa permits the applicant to stay in New Zealand for up to 3 years, investing and working in a business. That in turn sets up the possibility that if that venture is successful, the applicant will be eligible under Entrepreneur policy, to apply for residence.

This route has for a long time been the favourite of entrepreneurial individuals who want residence, but are not eligible under any other category. It involves risk, not only in the business sense, but also in the sense that if the business does not thrive, the entrepreneur application will also fail, and the applicant will fall back to holding a temporary permit with no ability to further extend it, and no ability to appeal.
Proceeding down this route requires a multi disciplinary approach. Not only are there immigration complexities; there is the need to design and describe the intended business venture in a way that is acceptable to immigration bureaucrats; to record the progress of the business over an extended period, and then later, in the context of the entrepreneur application, to re-present those figures as a successful venture within the parameters required by policy. The involvement of accountants and business planners inevitably create costs; and applicants need to understand that as well as involving risk, the route involves cost.

Because it can sometimes take up to four years to complete the process it is particularly important to pick an adviser partner whose own business is stable and who will be there for you in the long run.

As a stable and established business with connections deep into the local business community, Malcolm Pacific have assisted many successful applicants through the process.

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Read about: Temporary visas. general discussion . Visitor visas Work visas	Student visas Limited Purpose Visas Working Holiday Visas Special cases


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