Immigration Minister Hon Michael Wood announced changes to the Accredited Employer Work Vista policy on 4 July 2022 that meant:

• Offshore migrants can apply to work in New Zealand for an accredited employer

• Partners and dependents of work visa applicants can also apply for visas.

Michael Wood said, “The AEWV is at the heart of the government’s Immigration Rebalance and is focused on providing New Zealand with the skills we need, while ensuring that migrants are fairly treated. We believe that the previous system in some cases facilitated a low-cost labour model that was neither good for our country or migrant workers. As such the AEWV is centred around a requirement to pay at the median wage, with limited exemptions for sectors who are transitioning.

As part of the new AEWV policy, employers need to be accredited and have completed a job check before they are able to hire a migrant from offshore.

Job check applications opened on 20 June and to date 732 have been received. An employer must have their job check approved before a migrant is able to apply for the role.

“The job check is a very important part of the new AEWV process to hire a migrant from overseas and it is critical that employers provide all the necessary information to demonstrate they have met the requirements of the job check.

“This includes evidence of an acceptable job offer, job description and employment agreement, and proof that the role has been advertised for at least two weeks if it pays less than twice the median wage or is not on the Green List.”

More information on the Accredited Employer Work Visa can be found here.