Accredited Employer Work Visa

Prove your identity by providing:

• 1 acceptable photo, and
• a scan of the personal details page of your passport or certificate of identity.

Acceptable photos for a visa or NZeTA

After you apply, we let you know if we need to see your original passport.

Providing your passport for online applications

If you have a criminal conviction or are a security risk to New Zealand we may not be able to grant you a visa.

Good character for temporary visas

You must provide police certificates if your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer across all visits. This includes any time you have spent in New Zealand in the past on other visas, even if you have been out of the country since then.

You also must provide police certificates if we ask for them.

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old when you submit your application. They must be from any country you are a citizen of, or have spent more than 5 years in since you turned 17.

If you are 16 years old or younger you do not need to provide police certificates.

Providing police certificates

How to get a police certificate

If you have already sent us police certificates with a previous visa application and they are less than 24 months old, you do not need to send them again.

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, we consider all the information:

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

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in NZ

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.

Check if an employer is accredited

Immigration stand-down list

List of non-compliant employers | Employment New Zealand

If your role is at ANZSCO level 4 or 5:

• you must show that you can speak and understand English
• you may have a shorter total time you can stay in New Zealand of 3 years instead of 5 years
• your employer will need to advertise a role for a longer period of time before offering it to you.

You must have either:

• 3 years or more of relevant work experience, or
• a qualification at Level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (NZQCF).

Your qualification or work experience must be in the same field or industry as the job you have been offered. If you have a Bachelor's degree or higher your qualification can be in any field or industry.

Work experience evidence

Evidence of work experience must be from someone other than yourself, and can include:

• letters of reference from a former employer
• certificates of employment
• pay slips, or
• tax certificates.

Qualifications evidence

You must provide copies of your qualifications with your application.

You also must provide an International Qualification Assessment (IQA) from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) if your qualification is:

• below a Bachelor's degree, and
• from outside of New Zealand.

This is so we can check if your qualification is comparable to a level 4 New Zealand qualification or higher.

Apply for an International Qualification Assessment (IQA) – NZQA website

Roles exempt from minimum skill requirements

You do not need to provide any additional evidence to show you meet our minimum skill requirements if:

• your role is on the Green List, and you provide evidence that you meet the Green List requirements for that role
• you have occupational registration for your role, which required evidence of work experience or qualifications to get, and you provide this evidence to us
• you are paid 2 times the February 2023 median wage or more (NZD$59.32 an hour)
• you have already given us evidence of your Level 4 or higher qualification, or 3 or more years of work experience with a previous visa application, or
• your role is Dairy Cattle Farm Worker (ANZSCO code 841512) and you were in New Zealand on 2 August 2024, applied for an AEWV between 7 April 2024 to 2 August 2024 and your application has not been decided yet.

Green List roles

Occupational registration

You may not need to provide evidence showing you meet our minimum skill requirements if your role is paid less than the February 2023 median wage, and is part of the:

• meat processing sector agreement
• seafood processing sector agreement
• care workforce sector agreement, or
• tourism and hospitality wage exemption.

To find out if your role is exempt from meeting our minimum skill requirements, check the list of roles exempt from paying the February 2023 median wage. You can filter by sector agreement, job title, or use the keyword to search by your ANZSCO code.

AEWV roles exempt from paying the February 2023 median wage rate

These requirements may include evidence of your work experience, qualifications or occupational registration.

You may need to provide this evidence for other AEWV criteria, such as

• minimum skill requirements, and
• occupational registration.

If you provide this evidence for another AEWV criteria, you do not need to provide it again.

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

There is a total time you can stay in New Zealand (also called maximum continuous stay) for everyone with an AEWV. If you reach your maximum continuous stay, you must spend the required time outside New Zealand for your role before you are eligible for a further AEWV.

If you are paid less than the February 2023 median wage, or if your role is at ANZSCO level 4 or 5 your total time you can stay may be less than 5 years.

If you have an existing AEWV and you are eligible for a further AEWV, you may be able to apply for your visa balance.

How long you can stay on an AEWV

There are 2 ways to show us you speak and understand English – through:

• your citizenship, where you studied and the qualifications you gained
• English language tests.

The results of your English language test must:

• meet the minimum score we set
• be no more than 2 years old when you apply.

Find out about the citizenship requirements, the evidence needed for study and qualifications, or the test results required:

English language requirements for AEWV skill level 4 and 5 roles