Advertising the job before you apply for a job check
Before you can apply for an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) job check, you must advertise the job for at least 2 weeks, unless the job is exempt.
Applying for a job check: process steps
If you are approved to employ migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), you can apply for a job check. You may need to advertise the job or engage with Work and Income first.
Employer accreditation for the AEWV
- AEWV employer accreditation and job check process
- Applying for AEWV employer accreditation: process steps
- Applying for a job check: process steps
- Advertising the job before you apply for a job check
- Engaging with Work and Income before you apply for a job check
- Applying for a job check: employer checklist
- How we calculate pay rates for the AEWV
- Sector agreements and wage exemptions for AEWV workers
- Recruiting and supporting a migrant to apply for an AEWV: process steps
- Meeting your AEWV accredited employer obligations
- AEWV resources
Alert
The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) requirements have changed. Changes include removing the median wage requirement, reducing work experience requirements and redesigning the job check stage.
For more information about the announcement, including a list of key changes:
Changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) and median wage
Check if you need to advertise the job
You must advertise the job unless it:
- is on the Green List and meets the Green List requirements, or
- pays at least NZD $59.32 an hour.
Advertise the job
When you advertise, you must make genuine attempts to attract and recruit New Zealand workers.
You can use a recruitment agency to advertise and find suitable applicants.
Your job advertisement needs to include:
- job title and location
- a job description with details of the key tasks, duties and responsibilities
- the minimum and maximum rate of pay or salary, or estimated actual earnings if actual earnings are not guaranteed
- type of work and minimum guaranteed hours of work
- the minimum skills, experience and qualifications for the job.
Find out how to advertise the job.
Advertising the job before you apply for a job check
How long you will need to advertise for depends on what Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) skill level the job is.
- If the job is ANZSCO skill level 1, 2 or 3, you must advertise for at least 14 days.
- If the job is ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5, you must advertise for at least 21 days.
Engage with Work and Income
If the job is ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5 you must engage in good faith with Work and Income to see if they can find someone in New Zealand to do the job. You must do this before you apply for a job check.
You must engage with Work and Income in addition to advertising the job. You can advertise the job at the same time.
Work and Income will decide either:
- to list the job, or
- that they cannot fill the vacancy and you do not need to engage with them further.
If Work and Income does refer candidates who you think could be suitable, you must interview them.
In most cases, we will accept your declaration that you have engaged with Work and Income in good faith. However, in some instances we may ask to see evidence of that engagement during the job check process. This evidence could include:
- a copy of the completed Work and Income form, including the date it was submitted, details of your business, title of the job available, the number of positions available, and ANZSCO code
- if the vacancy is listed by Work and Income, a screenshot of the listing
- communications with Work and Income, such as emails provided when the listing closed or if they advised they have no candidates available.
We may also contact Work and Income at any time to check you have engaged in good faith.
Engaging with Work and Income before you apply for a job check
Check you are ready to apply
Before you apply for a job check, check that you:
- have the right level of accreditation type for the job and how many people you want to hire.
- know the job title, location and the ANZSCO code and skill level
- have advertised the job and engaged with Work and Income if you need to
- have prepared your documents.
Check if you can apply for AEWV employer accreditation and what type
If you advertised the job, make sure you apply for a job check within 90 days of your job advertisement closing.
Use our checklist to make sure you have everything you need for your application:
Applying for a job check: employer checklist
Note
When you apply for a job check, we make sure you advertised the job, unless you are exempt.
Apply online
If you have everything you need to apply for a job check, start your application.
1. Log into Immigration Online using RealMe®.
2. Go to the 'Employ migrants' tab or choose the 'Employ migrants' button.
3. Go to the 'My accredited organisations' section and find the organisation in the list.
4. In the Options drop-down list, choose 'View accreditation' to open the 'Employer accreditation certificate' page.
5. Choose 'Request a job check' to start your application.
6. Complete and submit the online form. You will need to pay a fee.
7. We process your application — if we need more information, we email you to request it.
8. We email you with our decision.
Paying for AEWV accreditation and job checks
Note
Check our wait times page to find up-to-date information on how long we are taking to process applications.
Include multiple jobs in a job check application
You can include multiple jobs in one job check application as long as:
- the job details are the same — for example, they are all under the same ANZSCO code, and have the same occupation, pay, location and minimum requirements
- they are covered by the same advertising and employment agreement.
If the location, job title, or terms of work are different then you need a separate job check for each job.
Share your application
In Immigration Online, employers can share information about their organisation, accreditations, job checks and migrant workers.
This means licensed immigration advisers and other users can work on job checks together.
You can create a network in your Immigration Online dashboard. To add other people to your network, they need to provide you with their sharing ID and email address.
Enter the correct location for the job
In your job check application, you must:
- enter the location where most of the work will be based or take place
- if the work will be based in more than 1 location, you must enter each location
- state if some travel is required.
If the job requires some occasional travel or is based in 1 region but with some travel, you only need to list the location the person will be based in.
If multiple jobs are included in your job check, the location details must be the same for each job.
Example
- You are applying for a job check for a truck driver that will be based in Hamilton. The job requires daily travel across the Waikato, but the worker will return to the Hamilton depot each night. You can list the location as Hamilton in your job check application.
- You are applying for a job check for an engineer job. The worker will spend 6 months of the year in New Plymouth and 6 months in Dunedin. You must advertise in both locations and list both locations in your job check application.
If we ask you for more information
If we ask you for further information, we send you a link to upload up to 5 additional documents.
If you have more than 5 documents to upload, follow the instructions in our Enhanced Immigration Online User Guide in section '4.4 Correspondence'.
Enhanced Immigration Online — User Guide PDF 5MB
There is a maximum file size limit of 10 MB per file. If you have issues uploading a document, you can try:
- reducing the file size of the document, or
- splitting the document into multiple smaller documents.
If your application is declined
If we decline your job check application, you can:
- ask us to reconsider our decision, or
- submit a new application.
If your employer accreditation or job check application is declined
Next steps
If your job check application is approved, it will expire 6 months from the date it was approved.
The next steps to employing migrants on an AEWV are to:
- log into Immigration Online to view your approved jobs.
- invite a migrant to apply for their AEWV.
Recruiting and supporting a migrant to apply for an AEWV: process steps
Help for employers
Our employer helpline is open between 08:00 and 18:00, Monday to Friday.
Freephone from NZ landlines: 0508 967 569
Engaging with Work and Income before you apply for a job check
If you want to hire a migrant for a job that is ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5, you must engage in good faith with Work and Income to check if there are any New Zealanders or residents who can do the job.
Applying for a job check: employer checklist
This checklist is to help accredited employers who need to complete a Job Check before hiring migrant workers on the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).
How we calculate pay rates for the AEWV
When you apply for a job check we may look at your proposed employment agreement and the information you supply in the application form to calculate the worker's hourly rate (pay rate).
Sector agreements and wage exemptions for AEWV workers
Before 10 March 2025, employers could hire workers on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) at less than the median wage for some jobs that were included in a sector agreement or wage exemption. Workers included in a sector agreement or wage exemption may also be exempt from meeting AEWV minimum skill requirements.