New Zealand Work Visa

From 23 May employers can apply for accreditation – from 4 July employers must be accredited to support an application under the AEWV. Accreditation is the first of three ‘gates’ before a migrant can be employed. The additional gates are job check and AEWV application. 

1. Viable and genuinely operating business

• You must be a viable and genuinely operating business.
• You must be registered as an employer with Inland Revenue (IRD).
• Your business must meet one of these:

- be profitable (before depreciation and tax over the last 24 months)

- have positive cash flow for each of the last 6 months

- have sufficient capital and external investment or funding (for example from a founder or parent company)

- have a plan to ensure the business remains viable.

2. Businesses operating for less than 12 months must provide evidence of this criteria at application.

Evidence for businesses operating less than 12 months may include:

- evidence of start-up capital or funding

- cash-flow or revenue forecasts

- contracts for work

- GST returns

- PAYE returns.

Most other employers will not need to provide evidence upfront, but evidence may be required to show you meet the requirements once the application is submitted or at any time during your accreditation.

3. Compliance 

You or your key people must not have:

• employed a migrant who did not have the right visa or visa conditions to work in that role
• provided false or misleading information to INZ.
• If you have, you need to have addressed the non-compliance and taken steps to prevent it re-occurring before you can get AEWV accreditation.
• You or your key people must not be banned from acting as a director or have a pattern of immigration offences in other businesses you or your key people have been involved in.
• A business with compliance failures cannot be closed and opened again under a new name to dodge those failures. We will still take the compliance issues in the previous business into account.

4. Completed employer learning modules

You must ensure everyone making recruitment decisions completes Employment New Zealand's most recent online employer modules on employment rights.

This could include hiring managers, human resource managers, sole traders, and partners. This only applies to those involved in hiring AEWV holders.

You must keep records of all of the modules being completed. The modules must be completed once within every accreditation period and finished before that period ends.

5. Pay recruitment costs

You must pay all recruitment costs in New Zealand and outside New Zealand.

This includes, but is not limited to:

- advertising

- recruitment agency fees

- employer accreditation fees

- job check application fees

- trade testing

- tools where the ownership is retained by the employer

- compulsory training and induction.

- You must not charge fees outside New Zealand which would be illegal if charged in New Zealand, including:

- payment to secure a job

- bonding agreements illegally binding workers to a business

- deductions that are unreasonable or not agreed in writing.

6. Provide settlement support

You must provide migrant workers with work-related settlement information within one month of the employee beginning their employment including:

- how to get an IRD number

- relevant industry training and qualification information and options

- specific job or industry hazards.

- accommodation options

- transport options

- cost of living

- how to access healthcare services

- Citizens Advice Bureau services

- information about relevant community groups.

- Your AEWV holder should be directed to appropriate websites with information about living in New Zealand.

7. Let employees complete learning modules

You must allow migrant workers time to complete all of Employment New Zealand's most recent online employee modules on employment rights during paid work hours within one month of the AEWV holder starting employment.

How long you can be accredited

When you are approved for the first time you will receive employer accreditation for 12 months.

At renewal, franchisees and employers placing migrants on AEWVs with controlling third parties will get accreditation for a further 12 months.

All other employers will get accreditation for 24 months when they renew, providing their previous accreditation has not lapsed for 12 months or more.

Maintaining accreditation

We may do checks during the accreditation period to ensure you still meet the accreditation requirements.

This could include requesting information or doing a site visit.

You must provide information requested, and provide access for site visits. If you do not, your accreditation will be revoked.

If we become aware at any point during the accreditation period that you do not meet the requirements, your accreditation will be revoked.

If you are under investigation or being prosecuted for breaching accreditation requirements, your accreditation can be suspended, and you won’t be able to support any job check applications.

If any of the details you provided in your application change you must tell us within 10 business days.

If you go through a restructure or merger, your accreditation cannot be transferred to a new legal entity. Any new entity will need to apply in their own right.

When you apply to renew accreditation, we may ask for evidence you have completed any activities you were required to do during the previous accreditation period.

Highly paid jobs

If the job is paid at least 200% of the median wage, you do not need to advertise the role.

Visas for these jobs can be for up to 3 years and can offer a pathway to residence. Further details for this pathway will be provided as part of the Skilled Migrant Category review.

All other jobs

All other jobs must pay at least the median wage and you must have advertised to New Zealanders.

Visas for these jobs can be for up to 3 years.

The Government is considering whether there will be any exemptions to the requirement to pay at least the median wage, and restrictions for some other roles.

Median wage

The median wage will increase from NZD $27.00 an hour to NZD $27.76 an hour on 4 July 2022, when the Accredited Employer Work Visa opens for applications.

The median wage increase will apply to job checks submitted from 20 June 2022, when applications for the job check open.

Advertising requirements

The terms and conditions of the job must be clear in the job advertisement. The employer must genuinely consider any New Zealanders who apply.

Advertising must:

• be for a minimum of 2 weeks on a national job listing website where suitable New Zealanders are likely to apply, or another advertising channel more likely to attract suitable New Zealanders to the specific role
• show significant terms and conditions including the minimum and maximum pay rate, the minimum guaranteed hours of work, the location of the job
• show the estimated actual earnings where a significant portion of the pay is by piece rate, commission or other rates or bonuses that are not guaranteed
• show minimum qualifications, work experience, skills or other specifications necessary to do the job.

Calculating the minimum pay rate

To accommodate the median wage threshold, INZ will provide more flexibility when calculating the minimum pay rate for the AEWV.

From 4 July 2022, employee’s pay will be averaged over the number of hours paid in the pay period. Employers will need to guarantee in their worker’s employment that the equivalent of the median wage will be paid per hour, in each pay cycle. Some employers may need to change employment agreements to provide these guarantees.

Multiple positions

Multiple positions for the same job can be included in one job check if the job details are the same (for example they have the same occupation, pay range, region or city and minimum job requirements), and are all covered by the same advertising (where required) and proposed employment agreement.

Fees

Job check fee — NZD $610.

Reconsideration of declined job check — NZD $240.

Job check duration

An approved job check is valid for 6 months or until you no longer hold accreditation, whichever is earlier.