No suitable New Zealand workers are available

Employers may be eligible to employ workers from overseas if they can prove there are no suitably qualified New Zealand workers available. 

An employer has to prove that:

• they have genuinely attempted to attract and recruit New Zealand workers
  and
• there are no New Zealand citizens or residents who are suitably qualified or able to be trained to do the job.

We also need to be satisfied the job offer is genuine, and that the employer meets and will continue to meet New Zealand employment and immigration laws.

If both the employer and their overseas worker meet our required conditions we can grant the employee a Work Visa or Permit for the time they are needed, up to a maximum of three years from their arrival.

In many cases the employee will be able to apply for further Work Permits - so long as they are still in New Zealand lawfully and can meet the Work Permit policy requirements at that time.

What conditions do overseas workers have to meet?  

If the employer and prospective employee meet our requirements, the employee can apply for a work permit under our Skilled Stream - Essential Skills Work Policy. 

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)

The ANZSCO is a list of occupations independently compiled by Statistics New Zealand and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.  We use it as part of the assessment of applications under Essential Skills because it provides information about:

• the skill level of an occupation (ranging from skill level one, for the highest skilled positions, to skill level five for the lowest skilled)
• the tasks and duties normally undertaken in an occupation
• the level of the qualification and/or amount of work experience required to work in an occupation

You can access the ANZSCO from this website.

When assessing workers for positions which are classified as skill level 4 or 5 on the ANZSCO, we will seek advice from Work and Income to establish whether they are able to source suitable New Zealand citizen or resident workers.  If you are seeking to fill a position in one of these skill levels, we advise you to liaise with Work and Income about filling the vacancy before supporting an application for an overseas worker.  If Work and Income already knows it is unable to fill the position, it will be able to provide this advice to INZ sooner, reducing the processing time of the application.

Fields of work with special arrangements

We provide special arrangements for some fields of work. Check to see if this applies to your employment need.