Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) Work Visa — Support a candidate's visa application
The Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) Work to Residence Visa allows you to attract and support people from overseas who have exceptional talent in a field of art, culture or sport.
What an employer needs to do
Support candidate's visa application
Your candidate must be supported by a New Zealand organisation of national repute.
The New Zealand
- that is employing them
- or person who is sponsoring them.
A representative of the New Zealand organisation of national repute that is supporting your candidate's application, must complete section B of the 'Talent Sponsorship Form' as evidence of their support.
Acceptable sponsor
Your candidate must have an acceptable sponsor.
If you meet the requirements for acceptable sponsors, you may sponsor your candidate.
But your candidate can be sponsored by a person or organisation other than:
- their employer
- the New Zealand organisation of national repute that is supporting your candidate's application.
Your candidate’s sponsor must complete a 'Talent Sponsorship Form' as evidence of their sponsorship.
Job offer
You must provide a written employment agreement, which your candidate will need to support their application.
Providing an employment agreement or contract for services is not a requirement of this visa, but it is a requirement of New Zealand employment law.
Employee rights and responsibilities — Employment New Zealand
Note
You do not need to provide evidence of your job offer unless we ask you to.
What happens next
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Step 1: Candidate applies for a work visa
For your candidate to be able to work for you, they will 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 evidence they have the support of a New Zealand organisation of national repute and an acceptable sponsor.
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Step 2: 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.
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Step 3: Employee starts work
As soon as your candidate has been granted a work visa, they can come to New Zealand to start working for you.
They will have 3 months to arrive in New Zealand. If they do not arrive in time, they may have to apply for another visa.
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Step 4: Employee applies for residence
After your employee has been working for you for 24 months they can apply for residence. If they are granted residence, they can work and live in New Zealand indefinitely.
Residence applications can take several months to process.