The AEWV is the main temporary work visa in New Zealand. It allows a migrant to work in New Zealand for an accredited employer for up to 5 years.
The AEWV scheme is designed to ensure New Zealanders are first in line for jobs and makes it easier for employers to hire skilled migrants where genuine skill or labour shortages exist.
It also helps combat migrant exploitation by ensuring only employers who are accredited can hire migrant workers.
All applications are made through Immigration Online.
Accreditation process
There are 3 steps in the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme process – employer accreditation, job check and the Accredited Employer Work Visa.
In order to apply for an AEWV, the employer must first apply for and be granted employer accreditation.
Once an employer has accreditation, they must apply for a Job Check in order to hire a migrant for that role. Before applying for a Job Check an employer may need to advertise to check there are no New Zealand citizens or residents available for the job.
Once a job check is approved, a migrant can apply for an AEWV.
→Accredited Employer Work Visa
Under the AEWV there are a range of verification steps at the application process through the accreditation, job check and work visa steps, as well as post-accreditation checks.
We constantly review and adjust our settings to ensure they are fit for purpose and strike the right balance between bringing in the migrants that New Zealand needs and protecting the integrity of the immigration system.
AEWV Processing
Processing AEWV applications efficiently and in a timely manner remains a top priority for Immigration New Zealand.
Immigration New Zealand is committed to reducing visa processing times. Immigration New Zealand is working to reduce AEWV processing times.
Immigration New Zealand is currently focusing on how they can use workers and processes to improve the efficiency of the system.
How Immigration New Zealand allocates AEWV applications
When Immigration New Zealand allocates an application, it means they assign it to an Immigration Officer to begin assessing it. We allocate AEWV applications across the 3 gateways in a flexible and thoughtful way to be as efficient as possible while maintaining appropriate risk settings and decision quality. For example, by grouping applications and allocating them to a specific team for simultaneous assessment – for example where there are large groups of applications from the same sector or location, or applicants are in similar situations.
Applications that include the required evidence and documentation will be prioritised.
If the Immigration Service can identify applications that are complete and include all the required information, they may consider them first.
This means that more AEWV gateway applications can continue to be assessed, allowing more visa decisions to be made.
Allocation priorities for the week 14 October
Applications for the following groups are being allocated to dedicated teams for processing. The groups will be reviewed on a weekly basis.
All other applications will continue to be allocated to teams for processing in date order from oldest to newest.
Employer Accreditation
- Employer accreditation applications where the employer’s interim accreditation is expiring within 6 weeks.
Job Check
- Job check applications for Green list and ANZSCO skill level 1 roles.
- Job check applications for ANZSCO skill level 2 hospitality roles.
Accredited Employer Work Visa
- Work visa applications where the employer accreditation is due to expire before the end of October.
- Applications for visa holders in New Zealand who currently hold an interim visa with no work rights and are moving off a visa where they had open work rights.
Even if your application is allocated first it does not necessarily mean it will be decided in that order. The quality and completeness of any application has a direct impact on how long it takes for the application to be decided.