New Zealand · Work authorisation

Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)

Issued by Immigration New Zealand. It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
2
Last checked
2026-09-15

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

This visa does not exist on a job offer alone. Immigration New Zealand runs it as three separate approvals: the employer applies for and holds AEWV accreditation; the employer then applies for a job check on the specific role, valid for 6 months or until the accreditation itself ends, whichever comes first; only once the job check is approved does the migrant apply for the visa. Check Immigration New Zealand's accredited employer list before relying on any job offer — an employer who has not completed the first step cannot support this visa at all.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

Either 2 or more years of relevant job experience, or a qualification at level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (NZQCF), in the same field or industry as the job offered — except that a Bachelor's degree or higher qualifies for any field or industry.

Not a licence

Academic comparability

International Qualification Assessment (IQA), issued by New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

This compares your degree to a local one. It is an academic statement and it does not authorise you to practise any profession.

Standard IQA (evaluates one qualification): NZD $445. 10 weeks

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Confirm your prospective employer already holds AEWV accreditation from Immigration New Zealand and has an approved job check for your specific role before you rely on the offer.
  2. Provide copies of your qualifications with the application.Immigration New Zealand states you must also provide an International Qualification Assessment from NZQA if your qualification is below a Bachelor's degree and was obtained outside New Zealand. This requirement does not apply if you have already given Immigration New Zealand evidence of a level 4 or higher qualification, or of 2 or more years in a similar role, on a previous visa application.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. Check the pay rate against the figures Immigration New Zealand publishes for the AEWV. A job that pays at least NZD $67.12 an hour — 2 times the 2024 median wage, as published on this page — is exempt from having to provide separate evidence that the skill requirements are met.The sector agreements and wage exemptions that ran before 10 March 2025 no longer set a wage rate for this visa: Immigration New Zealand states they no longer apply, and only the exemption from the minimum SKILL requirements still survives, for some of the jobs that were covered. Separately, the median wage rate is recalculated every year from Stats NZ's labour market income statistics, and Immigration New Zealand publishes a median wage comparison calculator so the current figure can be checked before you rely on any cached number, including the ones on this page.

Register and start working

  1. Once the job check is approved, the migrant applies for the AEWV through Immigration Online.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

AEWV visa application
From NZD $1,540
Employer accreditation and job check
Paid separately by the employer — the exact figures were not confirmed on the pages checked

Timeframes

Visa decision
80% within 7 weeks
Job check validity
6 months from approval, or until the employer's accreditation ends, whichever is sooner

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into New Zealand and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

4 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-09-15, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route New Zealand opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

Check my path →All New Zealand permits