Meeting the criteria

• 1 acceptable photo
• your passport or certificate of identity.

Acceptable photos

You must upload a copy of your passport when you apply. We will let you know if you need to send your passport after you have applied.

Sending your passport for online applications

You may need to provide police certificates as proof of your good character.

If you are aged 17 or older and plan to stay in New Zealand for more than 24 months (including any time you have already spent in New Zealand), you must provide police certificates from:

• any country you are a citizen of
• any country you have spent more than 5 years in since you turned 17.

You do not need to provide police certificates if:

• you have provided them to us with an earlier visa application, and
• they were issued in the previous 24 months.

Good character

How to get a police certificate

After you submit your application we will check any medical information you have previously submitted and contact you if we need new medical information.

When we decide if your intentions are genuine (bona fide), we consider all the information:

• you provide to support your application
• we have about your personal circumstances, and
• you provided in any previous applications.

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in NZ

Evidence that you are a genuine visitor

Your job offer must be:

• current at the time you apply for your visa
• for at least 30 hours of work a week
• from an employer who is accredited to hire migrants for the Accredited Employer Work Visa and has an approved job check for your role.

The accreditation process

In your visa application you must include:

• a copy of the employment agreement and job description
• a signed copy of the job offer.

The employment agreement must include:

• your employer’s name, address and phone number
• your name and address
• your job title
• the address for your place of work
• the kind of work you will be doing and your responsibilities at work
• details of any necessary qualifications or work experience
• information about whether you need New Zealand registration to do the work
• what hours you will work and how long the work will be for
• how long you have to take up the job offer
• pay and work conditions that comply with New Zealand employment law.

Your employment agreement must be with an accredited employer who has a history of compliance with immigration and employment law.

List of non-compliant employers | Employment New Zealand

Your employer will normally need to advertise the role, and show us evidence they have advertised and not found suitable New Zealanders as part of their job check, before we will let them offer the job to someone outside New Zealand.

They only do not need to advertise if your role is on the Green List and you meet the qualifications and experience listed for your role.

Green List roles

You need to show that you meet the skills, qualifications, work experience and other requirements of the job you have been offered. Evidence of qualifications can include:

• original or certified copies of your qualifications
• evidence the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) recognises your qualification.

Evidence of experience can include documents that show:

• the work that you did
• the dates you did the work
• how many hours a week you worked (on average)
• the contact details for your employer or employers
• how your work experience relates to the work you’ve been offered in New Zealand. 

If registration is required to work in your occupation in New Zealand, you must provide either:

• a certified copy of your full or provisional New Zealand registration
• confirmation from the appropriate registration body that you’re eligible for New Zealand registration.

Occupational registration

If you have been working in New Zealand in a role that pays below the median wage on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) you may be affected by a stand down period. A stand down period means you may need to leave New Zealand before you can get another AEWV visa for work paid below the median wage.

Some sectors such as tourism, hospitality, the care workforce and construction have agreements that allow them to pay less than the median wage for some roles and have specified stand down periods. The stand down period for your role depends on the sector you are employed in.