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NEW ZEALAND announces revised Accredited Work Visa Process

By May 3, 2022No Comments

Background

Post the 4th July 2022, every employer in New Zealand that intend to bring in foreign nationals to fill permanent or local roles will be required to have an accreditation status.

This status comes with a requirement for the employee and employer to be verified by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) by way of conducting random audit. Failure to comply with these requirements may mean an accreditation application may be declined or an existing accreditation status may be revoked.

Process

Once implemented, there will be three steps involved with individual applications.

Step 1: Employer Accreditation

Employers will be required to demonstrate that their business is:

  • genuine and viable;
  • compliant with immigration and employment law; and
  • providing appropriate employment and community settlement support to migrant workers.

There are three accreditation categories available:

  1. Standard Accreditation – this can be applied for by employers who are employing up to 5 foreign nationals on AEWVs at any one time
  2. High-Volume – this can be applied for by employers who are employing 6 or more foreign nationals on AEWVs at any one time
  3. * Labour Hire – this can be applied for if the foreign nationals are going to be sponsored by third parties such as labour hire or employer of record companies

*Labour hire companies are required to meet additional criteria and the government filing fees are higher.

Step 2: Job Check

A labour market test will be completed to check:

  • If there is a New Zealand worker who will be available to take on the role or if the worker will be readily trainable;
  • If the application does not require advertising given the job is paid at 200% of the median wage;
  • If the applicant is paid at least the median wage (NZD 27.76 hourly) or at a level within the market rate of the occupation; and
  • If the employment contract complies with the local employment and immigration law.

The advertisement must be completed before this step is completed and it has to be posted for at least two weeks on a national advertisement platform or a platform that would be acceptable for any roles paying over the median wage.

Step 3: AEWV Individual visa application

This step will review the foreign national’s eligibility against the requirements of the occupation in addition to the identity, health and character checks.

Key Dates

23/5/2022 – Authorities will start accepting accreditation applications
20/6/2022 – Upon approval of accreditation, job checks can be submitted.
3/7/2022 – This is the last day to file the essential skills applications.
4/7/2022 – Authorities will start accepting AEW application filings.

The original source blog post can be found here

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