Religious Worker Work Visa — Support a candidate's visa application
If you represent a religious organisation, which is also a registered charity, and want to hire a religious worker from overseas, you will need to support their Religious Worker Visa application. You will need to be able to offer your candidate a job doing religious work and sponsor them for the time they are in New Zealand.
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Visa length
up to
2 years
To support your candidate's visa application, you must:
- be a religious organisation, which is a registered charity with your primary purpose being to advance religion
- offer your candidate religious work
- sponsor your candidate while they are in New Zealand.
This option helps you:
- support someone from overseas to apply for a Religious Worker Work Visa
- to hire a religious worker from overseas.
How to support your candidate's visa application
Sponsorship
You must sponsor your candidate while they are in New Zealand.
You must complete a 'Sponsorship Form for Religious Workers' and include:
- a description of the religious work you are sponsoring
- evidence you have the financial ability to provide the sponsorship
- an explanation why your organisation has a genuine need for the candidate to do religious work for it.
Provide a job offer
You must provide your candidate with an offer of religious work.
If the work you are offering is paid salary or wages, you must provide a copy of an employment agreement. If the work you are offering is paid any other way or is unpaid, then you must provide a description of that work.
The work must be in mainly 1 or more of the following religious activities:
- teaching religious scripture or philosophy
- leading religious ceremonies, worship or prayer
- ordaining new religious leaders, initiating new members into your religious community, carrying out religious ceremonies
- providing spiritual guidance and care.
Process to hire candidate on a Religious Worker Work Visa
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1
Step 1: Provide a job offer and sponsorship to religious worker
Give a job offer to the religious worker and make sure you include all of the information they will need to support their visa application.
Complete a 'Sponsorship Form for Religious Workers', as evidence of your sponsorship and also give this to the religious worker.
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2
Step 2: Worker applies for a visa
For your candidate to be able to work for you, they will first need to apply for a Religious Worker Work Visa.
For us to accept your worker's application, they must send us:
- all the information we ask for
- a copy of the employment agreement and/or job description you provided them with
- a 'Sponsorship Form for Religious Workers' that you have completed and given to your candidate.
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3
Step 3: Wait for a decision
We make a decision about your worker's application as soon as we can. You can view our historic visa timeframes below.
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4
Step 4: Religious worker starts work
As soon as your religious worker has been given a work visa, they can come to New Zealand and start working for you.
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5
Step 5: Religious worker may apply for another visa
If you want your religious worker to keep working and being sponsored in New Zealand, they can apply for another Religious Worker Work Visa.
If they have already worked in New Zealand on this visa for 3 years, they can apply for a Religious Worker Resident Visa. If approved, they will be able to live and work in New Zealand permanently.