Before you apply for employer accreditation

Decide the level of accreditation you need

You can apply for 1 of 3 different levels of accreditation.

• Standard accreditation is for standard businesses hiring up to 5 migrants.
• High-volume accreditation is for standard businesses hiring 6 or more migrants.
• Controlling third party accreditation is for businesses who place migrants with third parties while being the direct employer named in the employment agreement. There is no limit to how many migrants you can hire.

Check if you can apply

To apply to be an accredited employer, your business needs to be a viable and genuine business, and must be able to meet at least 1 of these financial requirements.

• Your business has not made a loss over the last 2 years.
• Your business has had a positive cash flow each month for the last 6 months.
• Your business has enough capital or external investment to remain viable.
• Your business has a credible 2-year plan to ensure it remains viable — for example, a revenue forecast or cash flow projection.
• Your business must be registered with Inland Revenue.

You and any key people in your organisation cannot be on the Labour Inspectorate’s stand-down list, on the Immigration stand-down list or permanently banned from hiring migrants. We check if you are.

Legal compliance for AEWV employer accreditation

There are extra requirements if your business is placing workers with a controlling third party, or a trust, partnership or sole trader.

If you are a trust, partnership or sole trader

To apply:

• you must not be bankrupt or subject to a No Asset Procedure
• the business entity which has an NZBN must hold the accreditation
• the employer named on the employment agreement must be:
  
  • the sole trader, or
  • 1 or more of the trustees or partners.

No Asset Procedures — New Zealand Insolvency and Trustee Service

If you are placing migrant workers with a controlling third party

There are additional requirements and commitments you must meet if you are placing workers with a controlling third party.

Extra requirements for AEWV employers who use controlling third parties

You must have a history of placing staff in New Zealand for the past 12 months.

At least 15% of staff placed must be New Zealand citizens or residents and be guaranteed at least 30 hours work each week. If you are placing migrant workers into some specified construction roles, 35% of your workers must be New Zealand citizens or residents.

NZ workforce requirements for the construction sector

If your accreditation is approved you must meet this requirement during your accreditation period.

How we define franchisees and controlling third parties

Gather your information

You need to have:

• a business IR number
• a New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) that matches the details in the Companies Register — unless you are a foreign diplomatic mission
• your Business Industry Classification (BIC) Code
• the full name, passport number and date of birth of key people in your organisation — you also need their consent to provide this information.

You may also be asked to upload evidence your business is viable and genuinely operating. You do not need to provide evidence your business is viable and genuinely operating if you are a:

• New Zealand government department
• foreign government including foreign missions
• crown entity, state owned enterprise, non-listed company where the crown is the majority shareholder, or government department included in the
• government reporting entity under the Public Finance Act 1989
• local authority, for example a council
• state or state-integrated school
• publicly listed company on the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) with at least 100 employees.

NZ business or organisation IRD number application — Inland Revenue

Applying for an NZBN — New Zealand Business Number

Companies Register — New Zealand Companies Office

Find your BIC — Business Industry Classification Code

Gather financial documents and evidence

You can upload evidence to show how your business meets our 1 of our 4 viable and genuinely operating requirements.

• Your business has not made a loss (before depreciation and tax) over the last 24 months.
• Your business has had a positive cash flow for each month in the last 6 months.
• Your business has sufficient capital or external investments to ensure the business remains viable and ongoing. Funding can come from a founder, parent company, trust or another source.
• Your business has a credible plan for at least the next 2 years, showing how you plan to remain viable and ongoing. For example, having contracts for work.

These documents are optional, but if you provide these when you apply it may help avoid delays during your assessment.

You can upload evidence of to show your business is viable and genuinely operating in the further evidence section of the application.

For examples of the types of evidence you should upload:

Financial evidence for your accreditation application

Additional declaration for employees placing migrants with a controlling third party

If you are placing migrant workers with a controlling third party you must upload a declaration to confirm whether or not you are placing any of these workers into 1 or more of the specified construction occupations which require a 35% New Zealand workforce.

If you do not upload the declaration when you submit your employer accreditation application there may be a delay in processing your application.

NZ workforce requirements for the construction sector