Employers may be eligible to employ workers from overseas if their offer of employment is in an occupation for which there is a shortage of skilled workers in New Zealand. These occupations are listed on the Essential Skills in Demand List.
If the offer of employment is for one of these occupations the employer won’t need to provide any other evidence that no New Zealand workers are available for the job.
We’ll check:
- that the offer of employment to the prospective employee is genuine
- whether the offer of employment is sustainable
and
- that the business offering the employment is able to meet its obligations under New Zealand employment and immigration law.
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?