Accredited Employer Work Visa

Prove your identity by providing:

• 1 acceptable photo, and
• a scan of the personal details page of your passport or certificate of identity.

Acceptable photos for a visa or NZeTA

After you apply, we let you know if we need to see your original passport.

Providing your passport for online applications

If you have a criminal conviction or are a security risk to New Zealand we may not be able to grant you a visa.

If you have previous convictions or character issues, provide a full explanation of these with your application and explain why we should still grant you a visa.

Good character for temporary visas

You must provide police certificates if your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer across all visits. This includes any time you have spent in New Zealand in the past on other visas, even if you have been out of the country since then.

You also must provide police certificates if we ask for them.

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old when you submit your application. They must be from any country:

• you are a citizen of, and
• you have spent more than 5 years in since you turned 17.

Providing police certificates

How to get a police certificate

If you have already sent us Police Certificates with a previous visa application and they are less than 24 months old, you do not need to send them again.

If you have not applied previously, or your medical information is out of date, we will give you a Health Case Number to take to a Panel Doctor to complete your medical after your application has been submitted.

Find a radiologist or doctor near you

We will also be in contact if we require any further medical related information from you.

When we decide if your intentions are genuine, we consider all the information:

• you provide to support your application
• we have about your personal circumstances
• you provided in any previous applications.

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in NZ

Your job offer must be:

• current at the time you apply for your visa
• for at least 30 hours of work a week
• from an employer who is accredited to hire migrants for the Accredited Employer Work Visa and has an approved job check for your role, and
• paid at least the market rate for your job.

The accreditation process

In your visa application you must include:

• a copy of the employment agreement and job description, and
• a signed copy of the job offer.

The employment agreement must include:

• the parties to the agreement — these must match the accredited employer, if not, you need to explain why not
• the job title
• a detailed description of the work to be performed
• the hours of work (at least 30 each week)
• the duration and type of agreement (fixed-term or permanent)
• details of the pay and conditions of employment
• the place or places of work
• the maximum number of hours to be worked before overtime rates apply
• the total number of hours the employee may be asked to work, including any hours paid at overtime rates
• details of the overtime rate of pay
• details about paid leave entitlements
• the pay period
• the terms and conditions for any travel or work that will take place at different locations, if applicable
• an easy to understand explanation of how the employee can get help with employment relationship problems
• a statement that most personal grievances must be raised within 90 days
• a statement that sexual harassment personal grievances must be raised within 12 months
• an employment protection mechanism that applies if your organisation is sold or transferred, or if the employee’s work is contracted out (if applicable)

The following details must be the same as what your employer provided us in their application:

• the location of the job
• the occupation
• the minimum hours must not be less, the maximum hours must not be more than specified
• the pay must be within the range specified, and
• the direct employer.

Your employment agreement must be with an accredited employer.

Check if an employer is accredited

Immigration stand-down list

Employers on stand-down — Employment New Zealand

If your job is ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5:

• you must show that you can speak and understand English
• you may have a shorter visa length total time you can stay in New Zealand of 3 years instead of 5 years.

Check the English language section on this page for further information.

How long you can stay on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)

You must have either:

• 2 years or more of relevant work experience, or
• a qualification at level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (NZQCF).

Your qualification or work experience must be in the same field or industry as the job you have been offered. If you have a Bachelor's degree or higher, your qualification can be in any field or industry.

Work experience evidence

Evidence of work experience must be from someone other than yourself, and can include:

• certificates of employment
• pay slips
• tax certificates, or
• letters of reference from a former employer, signed and on a company letter head.

If you provide letters of reference from a former employer, these may not be accepted unless they are supported by other evidence such as payslips, social insurance records or tax certificates.

Documents that you wrote yourself, such as a curriculum vitae (CV), are not acceptable alone as evidence of work experience.

Your 2 years of work experience does not need to be consecutive, and it does not have to be full time. It must amount to a total of 2 years equivalent full-time work experience. You must provide evidence of the number of hours you have worked.

Qualifications evidence

You must provide copies of your qualifications with your application.

You also must provide an International Qualification Assessment (IQA) from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) if your qualification is:

• below a Bachelor's degree, and
• from outside of New Zealand.

This is so we can check if your qualification is comparable to a level 4 New Zealand qualification or higher.

Apply for an International Qualification Assessment (IQA) – NZQA website

Roles exempt from minimum skill requirements

You do not need to provide any additional evidence to show you meet our minimum skill requirements if:

• your role is on the Green List, and you provide evidence that you meet the Green List requirements for that role
• you have occupational registration for your role, which required evidence of work experience or qualifications to get, and you provide this evidence to us
• you are paid NZD $59.32 an hour (2 times the February 2023 median wage) or more, or
• you have already given us evidence of your Level 4 or higher qualification, or 2 or more years of work experience with a previous visa application.

Green List roles

Occupational registration

You may not need to provide evidence showing you meet our minimum skill requirements if you are paid less than NZD $29.66 (the February 2023 median wage), and your job was part of the:

• meat processing sector agreement
• seafood processing sector agreement
• care workforce sector agreement, or
• tourism and hospitality wage exemption.

To find out if your job is exempt from meeting minimum skill requirements, check the list of AEWW jobs that were part of a sector agreement or wage exemption.

Sector agreements and wage exemptions for AEWV workers

These requirements may include evidence of your work experience, qualifications or occupational registration.

You may need to provide this evidence for other AEWV criteria, such as

• minimum skill requirements, and
• occupational registration.

If you provide this evidence for another AEWV criteria, you do not need to provide it again.

However it may include other evidence such as:

• additional qualifications specific to the role, or
• certifications specific to the role.

If registration is required to work in your occupation in New Zealand, you must provide either:

• a copy of your full or provisional New Zealand registration, or
• confirmation from the appropriate registration body that you are eligible for New Zealand registration.

Occupational registration

There is a total time you can stay in New Zealand (also called maximum continuous stay) for everyone with an AEWV. If you reach the total time you can stay, you must spend 12 months in a row outside New Zealand before you can get another AEWV.

If your job is ANZSCO skill level 1, 2 or 3 the total time you can stay is 5 years. If your job is ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5 the total time you can stay is 3 years in most cases.

How long you can stay on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)

If you have an AEWV with a visa length that is less than the total time you can stay in New Zealand, you can apply for another AEWV before your current AEWV expires without leaving New Zealand for 12 months.

Applying for another Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)

There are 2 ways to show us you speak and understand English – through:

• your citizenship, where you studied and the qualifications you gained
• English language tests.

The results of your English language test must:

• meet the minimum score we set
• be no more than 2 years old when you apply.

Find out about the citizenship requirements, the evidence needed for study and qualifications, or the test results required:

English language requirements for AEWV skill level 4 and 5 roles

Documents must be translated by someone who meets our requirements for providing English translations.

Providing English translations of supporting documents