Check someone can legally work for you

Before a migrant can begin working for you, you must check that their visa gives them the right to work in New Zealand. Find out how.

Legal responsibilities and obligations

How to check a worker's visa

You can check someone’s visa status by:

  • using our online tool, VisaView, or
  • doing a document check.
NOTE

For some visas, a migrant worker needs to be offered a job in New Zealand before they can apply for their visa.

Support a worker's visa application

Visas that allow a migrant to work in New Zealand

Using VisaView

If you register as an employer to use VisaView,  you can:

  • verify that prospective and current employees hold a valid visa
  • find out the conditions on their visa and the date it expires.

Enquiries are saved in your VisaView account. These records can be used as evidence of your compliance with the Immigration Act 2009.

VisaView guide for employers PDF 648KB

To access VisaView, you need a RealMe account. If you have created a RealMe account for another purpose, you can use that for VisaView.

VisaView for employers

VisaView also lets registered employers confirm New Zealand passport information provided by a New Zealand citizen candidate. To get this information, you need to complete a Disclosure Agreement and return it to the Department of Internal Affairs.

VisaView Employer Disclosure Agreement PDF 411KB

Doing a document check

If you do not want to use VisaView, a worker can show you one of the following documents as evidence of entitlement to work in New Zealand:

  • a foreign passport with:
    • a valid New Zealand work visa
    • any valid New Zealand visa allowing work, or
    • a New Zealand residence class visa
  • an Australian passport
  • a Refugee Travel Document with a valid New Zealand work visa, or
  • a Refugee Travel Document with a valid New Zealand resident visa.

Most visa holders now have an eVisa rather than a label in their passport. If they do have a label, their visa conditions are noted on the label or sometimes in a letter from us. When you check their visa status, we suggest keeping a copy for your records.

About eVisas