WA1 Objective and Overview of Accredited Employer instructions (27/11/2023)

WA1.1 Objective

The Accredited Employer instructions contribute to the overall work instructions objective (W1) by:

1. incentivising employers to employ more New Zealanders to respond to skill and labour shortages over time; and
2. ensuring that employers only recruit non-New Zealand citizen or residents for genuine shortages, while not displacing New Zealanders from employment opportunities or hindering improvements to wages or working conditions; and
3. reducing risks around business models and practices that might enable migrant exploitation; and
4. ensuring that employers are compliant with specific employment, immigration and business standards (WA2.10.10).

WA1.5 Overview of Accredited Employer instructions

There are three steps in the Accredited Employer work visa instructions. These are:

1. employer accreditation - the employer must be granted employer accreditation (WA2); then
2. Job Check - the accredited employer must have a Job Check approved by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) for any vacancy the employer needs to fill with a non-New Zealand citizen or resident worker (WA3); then
3. work visa - a non-New Zealand citizen or resident worker must be granted an Accredited Employer work visa (WA4).
4. Despite (b) above, an application for an Accredited Employer work visa does not require the employer to have a further Job Check approved where the applicant holds an Accredited Employer work visa granted on or before 26 November 2023, is applying for a visa to continue working in the same role and meets the requirements set out at WA4.10.20.

Effective 27/11/2023