Accredited Employer Work Visa

This visa can be applied when you have a job offer from an accredited employer, and skills and qualifications for the job.

The onus of finding genuine employment from an accredited employer in New Zealand is on the client. Due to recent media reports on migrant exploitation, Immigration New Zealand has made a few changes to the Accredited employer work visa requirements for applicants and employers.

The changes mainly relate to the skills, qualification, experience and duration of the visa.

Job titles and responsibilities are based on a Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations by Immigration New Zealand. The current version being referred to for AEWV, SMC and all temporary visas is version 1.3. Here is the link.

Once you are in the link, you can type the occupation name that best matches your job title from the right hand side search bar. The magnifying class next to the job title result will display labels, synonyms, mappings and definitions. The definitions section is generally where the Skill Level popularly knows as ANZSCO level is displayed.

If the ANZSCO level of your job being offered is Skill level 1, 2 or 3, the visa duration can be 5 years provided you meet the median wage and other requirements such as skills, qualification/experience, health and character.

However, if the ANZSCO level of your job being offered is Skill level 4 or 5, then the maximum visa duration can be of 3 years and as an applicant you should have one of the following.
– At least 3 years of relevant work experience or
– Relevant Level 4 qualification or above. If overseas NZQA International qualifications assessment is required or
– A bachelor’s degree or higher is considered relevant and
– IELTS overall score of 4 or equivalent acceptable English language test such as PTE.

For more information, please read the updates here

It must be noted that gaining employment from offshore has always been a difficult process unless you have family or friend here who are willing to guide you. You can read more about searching for jobs on our blog here.

Most employers would like you to have a valid visa in order to apply for a position. This requires the applicant to hold a post study open work visa, any other work visa or a skilled migrant job search visa.

Employers have additional checks too now such as to check someone is suitably qualified, they could ask:
the applicant to do a practical test or demonstrate their knowledge in a job interview or
to see documents that support their resume or CV.

We would also request applicants to check for fake visas, scams, or offers that are too good to be true from unlicensed agents. Please do refer to the Immigration New Zealand website regularly.

If you think you are eligible to apply for an Accredited employer work visa, please book a paid consultation to talk to our advisers.

Work visa for partners of New Zealand Citizens or Residents

Partners of New Zealand citizens or residents are eligible for an open work visa if they are living together in a genuine and stable relationship. The onus of providing the evidence of the relationship lies on the client and the sponsoring partner. This type of visa is called an open work visa that allows the partners to work for any employer in any position.

We guide you through every step in collating information for such an application.

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