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Information about Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa

This visa offers a pathway to New Zealand residence. To apply, you’ll need to have the specified  work experience, qualifications and occupational registration to work in an occupation on our Long Term Skill Shortage List, and an offer for work in that occupation. If you continue working in that occupation in New Zealand for 2 years, you can apply for residence.

Overview

Overview

Length of stay

30 months

Age range

55 and under

You can

  • Start your pathway to residence in New Zealand by working for up to 30 months in an occupation for which there is a shortage of New Zealanders available.
  • Apply for residence after 2 years of working in an occupation on our Long Term Skill Shortage List.

Things to note

  • You can’t include a partner or dependent children in your work visa application, but they can apply for visas based on their relationship to you.

Explore family options

Criteria

Meeting the criteria

The criteria and evidence below will provide you with the information you need to meet the requirements.

Use the filters to display country specific tips, under evidence, to assist you with your application

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Identity

You must provide proof of your identity

EvidenceHide
  • 1 acceptable photo if you apply online, or 2 photos if you use a paper application form.
  • your passport or certificate of identity.

Acceptable photos

If you submit a paper application, provide your original passport or a certified copy.  We can usually process your application faster if you provide your original passport.

If you apply online, 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've applied.

Sending your passport for online applications

Also provide a copy of your Identity card.

Also provide your:

  • Hukou (household registration book)
  • Chinese identity card.

If you are a citizen of China and you submit a paper application form in China, you must also complete a supplementary form.

Supplementary form for Chinese citizens (INZ 1027) PDF 306KB

If you are submitting a paper application form, you must provide a supplementary form for Hong Kong and Macao visitors, workers and students.

Supplementary form for Hong Kong and Macao visitors, workers and students (INZ 1220) PDF 322KB

Health

You must be in good health

EvidenceHide

You must have a chest x-ray and a medical examination as proof of your good health.

Getting an x-ray or medical examination

You must provide a chest x-ray completed in the last 3 months, even if you've provided one to us previously, if:

  • you have spent 6 consecutive months in China since the last x-ray certificate was issued, and
  • you are now coming to NZ for more than 6 months.

Character

You must be of good character

EvidenceHide

If you are 17 or over, you must provide a police certificate from:

  • your country of citizenship
  • any country you have lived in for 5 years or more since you turned 17 years old.

Good character

How to get a police certificate

Police Certificates must be less than 6 months old when you apply.

If you provide a police certificate that is not in English, you must provide an English translation.

This includes police certificates that record no convictions.

Age

You must be 55 or under

EvidenceHide

Evidence can include original or certified copies of:

  • your full birth certificate
  • your passport or certificate of identity
  • an identity card that confirms your birth details.

New Zealand job offer

You must have a job offer for work on our Long Term Skill Shortage List

EvidenceHide

Your job offer must:

  • be current at the time you apply for your visa
  • be for full-time work
  • be for work in an occupation on our Long Term Skill Shortage List (LTSSL).

 

Long Term Skill Shortage List

You must provide a copy of your employment agreement as evidence of your job offer. The employment agreement must include:

  • your employer’s name and contact details
  • your name and contact details
  • your job title
  • the address for your place of work 
  • the kind of work you’ll be doing and your responsibilities at work
  • details of any necessary qualifications or work experience
  • information about whether you’ll need New Zealand registration to do the work
  • 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.

We won’t normally grant a visa if your employer is included on the list of non-compliant employers maintained by the Labour Inspectorate.

Employment agreements and rights

List of non-compliant employers

Job offer scams are common in India and South Asia, please ensure your job offer is genuine.

How to determine how realistic the job offer is

Qualifications

You must be qualified to do the work you’ve been offered

EvidenceHide

You must have the qualifications required by the LTSSL to do work the work you’ve been offered in New Zealand.

Long Term Skill Shortage List

You must provide:

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

Check if your qualification is on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment. If it is not, you must provide an assessment report from the NZQA, unless:

  • you have full or provisional registration, and
  • your qualification has been assessed by a New Zealand organisation as being comparable to a New Zealand qualification on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment.

List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment

New Zealand Qualifications Authority

We may also ask for copies of your course transcripts.

Work experience

You must have the necessary experience to do the work you’ve been offered

EvidenceHide

You must have the work experience required by the LTSSL to do the work you’ve been offered in New Zealand.

You must provide 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.

Long Term Skill Shortage List

If you need to provide evidence of relevant work experience in Eastern Europe, you should provide a copy of your official workbook from that country.

If you need to provide evidence of work experience in a European country but are not a citizen of a Schengen member state, you should provide evidence of your right to work in that country.

Evidence of your right to work is a copy of your Schengen visa for the time you were working.

Occupational registration

You may need New Zealand registration

EvidenceHide

If the Long Term Shortage List lists New Zealand registration as a requirement for your occupation, you must provide evidence you have the full or provisional registration required to work in your occupation in New Zealand.

Occupational registration

Long Term Skill Shortage List

Process

Process

The information below will help you understand the process so you can plan ahead and have the best chance of submitting a complete application.

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Fees & receiving centre

Fees & receiving centre

The information below will help you understand the process, timeframes and costs involved in applying for this visa, so you can plan ahead and have the best chance of submitting a complete application.

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Conditions

Conditions

These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa.

Entry permission

You must apply for entry permission when you arrive in New Zealand. You can do this by completing an arrival card, which you are given on the way to New Zealand.

Arriving in New Zealand

You can be refused entry permission if:

  • you don’t meet our character requirements
  • your circumstances have changed since you were granted a visa
  • you refuse to let us to take your photo, or provide us with your fingerprints or an iris scan, if we ask you for them.

Travel

After your visa is granted, you have 3 months to arrive in New Zealand.

After your arrival, you can travel in and out of New Zealand for up to 30 months.

Work

You have to work in the specific occupation from the Long Term Skill Shortage List, for the specific employer, and in the specific location detailed in the job offer that was the basis of your work visa application.

Study

You can study for up to 3 months in any 12-month period.

Keep your visa in a valid passport

If you want to travel, your visa must be in a valid passport.

If your passport expires, you must apply to transfer your visa to a new passport before you can travel.

Transferring my visa to a new passport

To transfer your visa, you must:

  • send us your old and new passports
  • complete an ‘Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa’
  • pay a transfer fee.

 

Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa (INZ 1023)

Fees, decision times and where to apply

Employers

Employer obligations

New Zealand employers have certain obligations they must meet when employing a non New Zealand resident.

Key COVID-19 updates for Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSEs) in New Zealand

What an employer needs to do

Show all evidence Hide all evidence

Job offer

You must provide a written employment agreement, which your candidate will need to support their application

EvidenceHide

For us to grant your candidate a Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa, they must provide a copy of a written employment agreement, which must:

  • be for work in an occupation on the LTSSL
  • be current at time they apply for a visa
  • be for full-time work
  • be for 2 years or more
  • pay no less than the market rate (and at least NZ $45,000 if you want them to be eligible to apply for residence later).


Employment agreements must also include:

  • your name and contact details
  • your candidate’s name and contact details
  • the job title
  • the address the work will be carried out
  • the kind of work your candidate will be doing and their responsibilities at work
  • details of any qualifications or work experience your candidate will need to do the work
  • information about whether your candidate will need New Zealand registration to do the work
  • how long the work will be for
  • how long your candidate has to take up the job offer
  • pay and work conditions that comply with New Zealand employment law.

Long Term Skill Shortage List

Employer supplementary form

You must complete an ‘Employer Supplementary Form’

EvidenceHide

You’ll need to give your completed form to your candidate, who will need to include it with their work visa application together with their employment agreement.

Employer Supplementary Form (INZ 1113) PDF 259KB

Information updated on 2020/07/09 12:31:41.396858 GMT+12