RSE Scheme overview for employers
An overview of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme for horticulture or viticulture employers wanting to recruit workers from Pacific countries.
RSE Scheme criteria
The main criteria you need to meet as an employer in the RSE Scheme are any RSE workers you employ will only:
- work in your horticulture or viticulture business
- plant, maintain, harvest and pack crops
- be from eligible Pacific countries.
Usually, you can only recruit workers from eligible Pacific countries. You need to get our approval before recruiting from another country. If you get our approval, your RSE allocation is used for them.
RSE employer requirements
You need to meet the RSE Scheme requirements and keep meeting them for the time you are in the scheme.
The requirements are set out in the applications for:
- RSE status, which you need as an employer in the RSE Scheme
- an Agreement to Recruit (ATR), which is how you start the recruitment process.
Employer requirements for the RSE Scheme
RSE Scheme objectives
The purpose of the RSE Scheme is to:
- allow employers with horticulture and viticulture businesses to add citizens of eligible Pacific countries or residence class visa holder workers to their New Zealand workforce when:
- their need for workers cannot be met by the New Zealand workforce, and
- they have made reasonable attempts to train and recruit New Zealand citizens and residence class visa holders
- promote best practice in the horticulture and viticulture industries
- support economic growth and productivity of the industry as a whole
- ensure the employment conditions of both New Zealand and non-New Zealand citizens or residence class visa holder workers are protected and supported
- encourage economic development, regional integration and good governance within the Pacific by giving citizens of eligible Pacific countries preferential RSE Scheme access
- ensure workers recruited into the RSE Scheme are paid fairly and benefit financially from their time in New Zealand
- ensure outcomes that promote the integrity, credibility and reputation of the New Zealand immigration and employment relations systems.
RSE Scheme process
Apply or reapply for RSE status
If you want to be in the RSE Scheme and recruit workers, you need to hold current RSE status.
- You need to apply for Recognised Seasonal Employer status. Search using 'status' in our fees finder tool to see how much applications cost and how long they take to process.
Fees, decision times and where to apply - When you first apply for RSE status it lasts for 2 years.
- If you reapply, and we approve your application, your status may be valid for 3 years.
- We suggest you reapply 4 months before your current RSE status ends. This helps your RSE processes run smoothly.
Start the recruitment process with an ATR application
When you have RSE status, start your recruitment process with an Agreement to Recruit (ATR) application.
- You can apply for you own ATR, or a joint ATR if you do not have enough RSE allocation.
- Search using 'agreement' in our fees finder to see how much applications cost and how long they take to process.
Fees, decision times and where to apply
Recruit and hire RSE workers
If we approve your ATR, you can start the overseas recruitment and hiring process.
You can choose to recruit and hire overseas workers by either:
- using a recruitment agent based in the country you want to hire workers from, or
- travelling directly to the country to do the recruitment and hiring of workers yourself.
Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited Visa
Workers you decide to hire will need an RSE Limited Visa before they can come to New Zealand and work.
- The visa lets them work in New Zealand for up to 7 months over an 11-month period. For workers from Kiribati and Tuvalu it is up to 9 months over an 11-month period. Your ATR is used to work out the duration of the worker's visa.
- Workers are issued visas with conditions. This includes work conditions which say who their employer is, how long they can work for them, and what region of New Zealand they can work.
- RSE workers still in New Zealand after their RSE Limited Visas expire risk being deported.
If you do not leave New Zealand before your visa expires
Change visa conditions for RSE workers already in New Zealand
RSE workers already in New Zealand may need to change their visa's work conditions. Before their work conditions can change we need:
- a new Agreement to Recruit (ATR) application from the current employer, or the new employer if the worker is transferring to them, and
- a new application for a Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited Visa from the worker — the new ATR must be approved first.
Change visa work conditions for RSE workers already in New Zealand