Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa

Support a candidate's visa application

You can support overseas workers to work for you in an occupation on the Long Term Skill Shortage List as long as they have the qualifications, work experience and occupational registration required to work in that job.

What an employer needs to do

View All Evidence

For us to grant your candidate a Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa, they must provide a copy of a written employment agreement, which must:

  • be for work in an occupation on the LTSSL
  • be current at time they apply for a visa
  • be for full-time work
  • be for 2 years or more
  • pay no less than the market rate (and at least NZ $45,000 if you want them to be eligible to apply for residence later).


Employment agreements must also include:

  • your name and contact details
  • your candidate’s name and contact details
  • the job title
  • the address the work will be carried out
  • the kind of work your candidate will be doing and their responsibilities at work
  • details of any qualifications or work experience your candidate will need to do the work
  • information about whether your candidate will need New Zealand registration to do the work
  • how long the work will be for
  • how long your candidate has to take up the job offer
  • pay and work conditions that comply with New Zealand employment law.

Long Term Skill Shortage List

Give your completed form to your candidate and tell them to include it with their work visa application together with their employment agreement.

Employer Supplementary Form (INZ 1113) PDF 487KB

Note

We may update this form often. Check you are using the latest version downloaded from this page.

What happens next

Candidate applies for a work visa

For your candidate to be able to work for you, they’ll first need to apply for a work visa.

For us to accept your candidate’s application, they must send us all the information we ask for, including a copy of their employment agreement.

We also need you to provide an Employer Supplementary Form, which forms part of their application.

Employer Supplementary Form (INZ 1113) PDF 487KB

Wait for a decision

We make a decision about your candidate’s application as soon as we can. You can view our historic visa timeframes below.

Fees and decision times

Employee starts work


As soon as your candidate’s been granted a work visa, they can come to New Zealand to start working for you. Your employee will have 3 months to arrive in New Zealand. If they don’t arrive in time, they may have to apply for another visa.

Check someone can legally work for you

Preparing for your migrant staff

Employee applies for residence

After your employee has been working for you for 24 months they can apply for residence. If they’re granted residence, they can work and live in New Zealand indefinitely.

Residence applications can take several months to process.