Foreign Crew on Fishing Vessels - Approval in Principle

Employers can apply for an Approval in Principle to recruit 7 or more foreign crew for work on a fishing vessel. Approvals in Principle will only be approved if there aren’t enough New Zealanders available to do the work.

Overview

Duration	12 months

With this option employers can

Recruit 7 or more foreign crew to work on a single New Zealand flagged fishing vessel.

Things to note

You don’t need to apply for an Approval in Principle to recruit fewer than 7 crew for work on a single fishing vessel. But you will need to complete a supplementary form and support a candidate's visa application in every other way an employer with an AIP is required to.

Support a candidates work visa application

What is involved

1 Apply for approval in principle to recruit

New Zealand employers can apply for an Approval in Principle to recruit 7 or more foreign crew for work on a fishing vessel. Approvals in Principle will only be approved if there aren’t enough New Zealanders available to do the work.

Check criteria & apply

2 Support a work visa application

Once you have received approval in principle, you can go ahead and recruit overseas workers. Before your new recruits can start working for you, they must apply for a work visa, which you’ll need to support.

3 Continue to recruit

To continue to be able to recruit foreign crew to work on a fishing vessel, you must comply with the conditions of your approval in principle.