Changing jobs on an AEWV: the new job token, the variation and when you can start

This article is general information, not immigration advice. Rules change, and your own visa conditions decide what applies to you. Check with Immigration New Zealand, or for advice, it says to use a licensed immigration adviser, a certified New Zealand lawyer or someone else legally able to give immigration advice, although you are not required to use one.

What a Job Change needs

Immigration New Zealand is plain about the starting point: on an AEWV you may work only in the job, for the employer and in the location stated on your visa, and you cannot work a second job. To change your employer, your job, your location or a combination of these, you apply for a Job Change, which Immigration New Zealand also calls a variation of conditions, or you apply for a new visa.

For a Job Change:

• The new employer must be AEWV accredited and hold a valid job check for your new job. Our article on finding an accredited employer covers checking the register and what a job check involves.
• You need the job token number, which Immigration New Zealand also calls the job check number. For a Job Change, the employer tells you the number rather than sending you the link used for a first AEWV.
• The token must be for the same type of visa. An AEWV holder cannot use a token issued for a seasonal visa, and would need a new visa instead.
• You must meet the job's requirements, including any qualification or work experience the new employer listed in the job advertisement.
• You apply online, with a copy of your passport, the token number, and the offer or employment agreement, which must set out the job title, location, duties, pay, hours and how long the job lasts. The new job must still offer at least 30 hours a week.

Two limits catch people out. A Job Change does not change your visa's expiry date or the time left on it. And the maximum time you can stay on an AEWV is 3 or 5 years depending on the job: if your current job allows 5, you generally cannot move to one that allows 3, apart from a narrow exception for some earlier visas in skill level 4 and 5 jobs. Check both before you accept an offer.

Do not start the new job until the Job Change is approved

Immigration New Zealand says the changes to your visa do not start until it approves your application and gives you an updated eVisa. Until then, your visa still says your current job, employer and location.

Starting early is a serious risk. Immigration New Zealand's guidance for employers says that if an AEWV worker works in a different job on their current visa, the employer may receive an infringement notice and the worker may face deportation. That includes a first week, or a trial shift, in the new job before the decision.

So agree a start date that falls after the decision, and keep working in your current job while you wait. A new employer who pushes you to start sooner is a warning sign.

Planning your notice around the decision

Immigration New Zealand publishes wait times for applications decided in the last four weeks, updated weekly and counted in working days. On 6 October 2026, its work visa page showed variations of conditions for work visas taking 1 week on average, with most decided within 2 weeks, and its job check table showed job checks taking 2 days on average, with most within 1.5 weeks. They are past times, not promises, and Immigration New Zealand says missing information and extra checks make them longer.

The application can include a covering letter setting out the length of your notice period, if required, so your notice is part of the picture. A sensible order is:

1. Check the new employer is accredited, and confirm with them that the job check is approved and which token number to use.
2. Check your visa's expiry date. If it ends soon, a Job Change will not extend it, and Immigration New Zealand says to apply for another temporary visa at least a month before it expires.
3. Apply for the Job Change with every document ready, because complete applications move faster.
4. Decide when to resign. Your notice period is in your employment agreement, and your current visa still covers your current job while you wait. If you resign first and the Job Change is declined, you may be left with no job your visa lets you do, so weigh your notice period against the wait times above.
5. Start the new job only once your updated eVisa arrives.

Our guide to getting a job in New Zealand as a migrant covers CVs, references and how hiring works here. While you wait, Your Job Hunt keeps the new role on your board beside any others you are chasing, with its take-home pay and your notes on each step, and its calendar holds the date you applied and your agreed start date, so nothing rests on memory.

If your employer is sold, restructures or closes

A sale or restructure. A business sale or restructure, in Immigration New Zealand's terms, is a change in the legal owner of the business. If only your reporting line changes and the organisation and your main duties stay the same, you do not need a Job Change. If you are being transferred to a new owner, you apply for a Job Change, through a streamlined process:

• the transfer must be agreed between the old and new employers, or automatic, such as two businesses combining;
• you must not have to reapply for your job against other candidates;
• the job must have the same location, the same job title and the same or higher pay;
• the new employer must at least have applied for accreditation; you give your original job check number, with evidence of the sale or restructure and of your continuing job.

Since 17 November 2025, Immigration New Zealand can pause these applications if it has serious concerns about the employer, such as accreditation revoked in the past 12 months or credible evidence of exploitation, and declines the Job Change if the employer's accreditation is declined or revoked.

Redundancy, liquidation or dismissal. If you are made redundant and find a new job yourself, the standard process applies: the new employer needs its own job check. Immigration New Zealand asks you to contact it if your job or location is changing because of a restructure, liquidation or bankruptcy, or if you have been made redundant or fired, so it can explain how your visa is affected.

Lost accreditation. If your employer loses accreditation, Immigration New Zealand says you can keep working for them until your visa expires, or apply for a Job Change to another accredited employer.

If you are being exploited

Immigration New Zealand says migrant workers have the same rights as New Zealand workers, and that reporting an employer who mistreats you will not affect your visa.

If you have reported exploitation, the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa lets you leave your job quickly while it is investigated, and work for any employer in legal work. The steps, as Immigration New Zealand sets them out:

1. Report the exploitation to Employment New Zealand, on 0800 200 088 or through its online form.
2. If you meet the requirements, Employment New Zealand gives you a Report of Exploitation Assessment letter.
3. Apply for the visa within one month of getting that letter, while you are in New Zealand and still hold a work visa that names your employer.

The visa lasts up to six months and costs nothing. Immigration New Zealand says it will ignore breaches of your visa conditions that happened because of the exploitation. Your partner and children cannot be included in the application, although they can apply for further visas of their own type. It is an open work visa, so there is no Job Change from it: plan your next visa while you hold it.

Keep the move, and its dates, in one place