Global Impact Visa – What You Need To Know

The Global Impact Visa (“GIV Visa”) aims to attract highly talented, successful and well-connected entrepreneurs to establish their ventures in New Zealand.

The key benefit of the GIV Visa is that it offers flexibility to attract innovative global entrepreneurs, investors and start up teams who are not covered under the existing investor and entrepreneur visa categories.

The GIV Visa policy is designed to target certain types of investors and entrepreneurs which include:

• Younger entrepreneurs who are driven to take more risks in innovative business opportunities but lack the years of business experience or capital required under the existing investor or entrepreneur policies.

• Start-up founding teams who can bring scalable ventures with initial investment to launch from New Zealand but their value as a team cannot be assessed to meet the requirements under the current entrepreneur policy.

• More experienced “global entrepreneurs”, who can bring experience, capital and international business networks but who can neither liquidate assets to meet investor policy, nor commit to spending two years in New Zealand fulltime for one business, as required under entrepreneur policy.

There are up to 400 GIV Visa’s on offer to pioneering entrepreneurs and investors during the four-year pilot programme.

There are two stages for the GIV Visa application process:

1. Submit an application and be accepted into, the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF) which is the programme designed to give entrepreneurs, start-up teams and investors a platform to grow their ventures.
2. Apply for a GIV Work Visa and if accepted, after 30 months on the EHF you can apply for permanent residence in New Zealand.

The selection criteria for the GIV Visa is conditional on meeting a number of criteria. Applicants who have been selected will be assessed on the basis of their acceptance into the EHF, English language, health and character and having sufficient funds to support themselves.

We can assist you throughout the GIV Visa application process. If you have any questions please contact our team.