Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited Visa — Support a candidate's visa application
If you are a horticulture or viticulture employer, you can recruit workers from eligible Pacific countries through the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. You must support the workers' visa applications.
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Visa length
Normally a maximum of
7 months in any 11-month period
To support your candidate's visa application, you must:
- have RSE status and an approved Agreement to Recruit (ATR)
- offer the worker employment planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing crops within the
or - provide the worker with a written employment agreement and your ATR allocation number
- let the worker know in writing what their voluntary deductions are
- send them their New Zealand flight details and insurance information
- comply with New Zealand employment law.
This option helps you:
- recruit workers from
who are not currently in New Zealand, unless under a joint ATR - recruit up to the number of workers you have been allocated — your
.
Workers employed under the RSE scheme may stay in New Zealand for up to 7 months over an 11-month period. If they are from Kiribati and Tuvalu, they can stay up to 9 months over an 11-month period.
If a worker has already worked 2 or more seasons in New Zealand, you must pay them at least the New Zealand adult minimum wage plus 10%. All other workers must be paid at least the New Zealand adult minimum wage.
Supporting your candidates' visa application
You must provide each candidate with:
- a job offer for planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing crops in the horticulture or viticulture industries
- a written employment agreement
- their insurance information
- their New Zealand flight details.
The employment agreement must:
- include both your ATR number and RSE allocation number
- include your contact details
- comply with the conditions set out in your ATR
- detail any voluntary deductions
- comply with New Zealand employment law.
Supporting a worker's Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited Visa application
Employee rights and responsibilities — Employment New Zealand
Process to recruit and hire
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Step 1: Provide a written job offer
To bring someone to New Zealand under this visa, you must first provide a written job offer. Your candidate will need to provide this to support their visa application.
Normally, you can only recruit workers from eligible Pacific countries. You can, however, recruit from other countries, using your RSE allocation, if you can show us you:
- have or had pre-established relationships with workers of other nationalities before the RSE scheme started in 2007
- have made reasonable attempts to recruit from eligible Pacific countries, but were unsuccessful, or
- have good reasons for why you cannot recruit from eligible Pacific countries.
Recruiting and hiring Recognised Seasonal Employer workers: process steps
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Step 2: Candidate applies for a work visa
Each candidate must apply for a visa allowing them to work for you. For us to process their visa application, each candidate will need to send their RSE Limited Work Visa application to us, with all of the required evidence. This includes copies of their:
- job offer, and
- employment agreement you provided them with.
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Step 3: Wait for our decision
We make a decision about your candidate’s application as soon as we can. Find out how long these visas usually take to decide by using our Fees, decision times and where to apply tool.
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Step 4: Employee starts work
As soon as your candidate has been given a visa, they can come to New Zealand and start working for you.
You can check they have a work visa by asking to see their visa label or letter, or using our online system.