Finding an accredited employer in NZ: the AEWV job hunt from search to job check

This article is about the job hunt: finding, checking and applying to employers. It is not immigration advice. For advice on your own visa, Immigration New Zealand 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.

Checking the accredited employer list

Immigration New Zealand runs an online tool for checking whether an employer is currently accredited. It is meant for people applying for a visa that requires an accredited employer, and for people who already hold one and are looking to change jobs. You can search in two ways:

• By NZBN, the New Zealand Business Number. It is 13 digits, and you must enter all 13.
• By company or trading name, entering at least the first 3 characters.

The list is updated daily, as employers join the accreditation programme or renew. Some employers have chosen not to be published in the search results, so if you cannot find one, ask the employer directly whether they are accredited. Search the legal company name as well as the brand on the ad, because the two often differ.

Why it matters: Immigration New Zealand says all employers hiring workers on an AEWV must be accredited first, and your job offer must come from an employer that is accredited and has an approved job check for your job. An employer that is not accredited cannot support your AEWV, however keen they are. Immigration New Zealand's own scam advice says to confirm a potential employer is accredited using the online tool before you go further.

Accreditation can also be lost. Immigration New Zealand says employers that breach immigration law can be placed on a stand-down list and lose their accreditation, and that your employment agreement must be with an accredited employer with a history of compliance with immigration and employment law. Check again just before you accept an offer, not only when you first apply.

What the employer must do before offering you the job

Accreditation lets an employer hire on an AEWV. Each role then needs its own job check, which Immigration New Zealand approves before the employer can invite you to apply. For the job check, the employer usually has to:

• Advertise the job first, making genuine attempts to recruit New Zealand workers. The ad must include the key tasks, the minimum and maximum pay, the type of work and minimum guaranteed hours, and the minimum skills, experience and qualifications. For ANZSCO skill levels 1, 2 and 3 it runs for at least 14 days, and for levels 4 and 5 at least 21 days. Jobs on the Green List that meet its requirements do not need to be advertised.
• Engage with Work and Income, for skill level 4 and 5 jobs, before applying for the job check, and interview any referred candidates it thinks could be suitable. Since 10 March 2025 the employer declares that it engaged in good faith, instead of providing an Engagement Check from the Ministry of Social Development.
• Offer at least the market rate, which Immigration New Zealand describes as the range of pay a New Zealander or resident would be paid within to do the job or equivalent work.

The employer applies for the job check within 90 days of the ad closing, and an approved job check expires 6 months after it is approved. That is why an employer may advertise a role months before they can make an offer to someone overseas.

Your offer itself must be for full-time work of at least 30 hours a week, from an accredited employer with an approved job check, paid at least the market rate. The employment agreement cannot include a trial period, unlawful deductions or unacceptable bonding clauses that make you repay money if you leave within a set time.

Two changes from 10 March 2025 come up often. AEWV applications made on or after that date no longer have to be paid NZD $29.66 an hour, the February 2023 median wage; the pay must be at least the market rate instead. And the experience requirement dropped from 3 years to 2. Immigration New Zealand now asks for 2 years or more of relevant job experience, or a qualification at level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework, in the same field as the job (or a Bachelor's degree or higher in any field). Experience must be shown with evidence from someone other than you, such as employment certificates, payslips or tax certificates; a CV alone is not enough.

The skill level of the job matters for more than the job check. Immigration New Zealand says the most you can stay on one or more AEWVs is 5 years in most cases for skill levels 1 to 3, and 3 years for levels 4 and 5, and that English language requirements apply at levels 3 to 5. Check those rules on the AEWV page for your own job before you plan around them.

The job token, and why you cannot apply without one

You cannot simply apply for an AEWV and then look for work. The application starts from the employer. Once a job check is approved, the employer emails you four things: a job offer, a job description, the employment agreement, and a unique link to the online visa application form.

Immigration New Zealand calls that link a job token: a unique number representing one of the jobs the employer is approved to hire a migrant for. You must open the link and accept the request before you can begin your application. Without a job token there is no AEWV application, which is why the order is always accredited employer, approved job check, offer, then visa.

If you stay in the same job, at the same location, with the same employer, a job token can be reused when you apply for another AEWV. A new employer means a new job check and a new token.

Paying for a job offer is the red flag that matters most

Immigration New Zealand's scam advice is plain: New Zealand employers cannot charge you fees for a job, sometimes called processing or placement fees, or make you pay any of their recruitment costs. That includes asking indirectly, through a third party who then demands you pay them. Its page on what employers must do adds that your employer must pay all costs and fees inside and outside New Zealand for your recruitment. You may have to pay the visa application fee, immigration agent costs and airfares yourself.

Paying can also cost you the visa. Immigration New Zealand will decline an AEWV application if it considers you or your agent offered or promised money to the employer or its agent in exchange for a job offer.

The other warning signs Immigration New Zealand lists:

• You are asked to lie to qualify for a job or a visa, which is illegal.
• You are told you do not have the same minimum employment rights as a New Zealander. Everyone working here has the same minimum rights, including paid holidays and sick leave.
• A package deal of a visa, a job and accommodation, which can hide excessive accommodation charges.
• A promise of residence, or of future earnings or a house.
• You are told you must use an adviser, or that one can guarantee an outcome or a faster decision.
• A request to pay your visa fee into a bank account. Immigration New Zealand only takes payment through its own application forms or an approved Visa Application Centre.

If something looks wrong, contact Immigration New Zealand before you pay or sign anything. If you are already working here and think you are being exploited, Immigration New Zealand says it and Employment New Zealand can help and take action, and that complaining about your treatment at work will not affect your visa. Report scams to the police in your own country, or, in New Zealand, online scams through the government's Own your online website. Our guide to job scams in New Zealand covers the wider patterns, from fake ads to messages that move you off the job board.

Where accredited employers advertise, and how to state your visa position

Because most job checks need the role advertised to New Zealanders first, AEWV roles are usually found where every other New Zealand job is: Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed, company careers pages and recruitment agencies, which Immigration New Zealand says an employer can use to advertise and find applicants. A practical approach is to shortlist employers in your field, check each one on the accredited employer list, and then watch their careers pages and ads. Our article on how to read a job ad covers what the wording tells you.

Make your position impossible to miss. Employers screen quickly, and an unclear line about work rights can end an application before anyone reads your experience. Put one line near the top of your CV, under your contact details, that says exactly where you stand. These made-up examples show the idea:

Only say what is true and what you know. If you already hold an AEWV, Immigration New Zealand says you may work only in the job, for the employer and in the location on your visa, and a new job needs a Job Change or a variation of conditions. Our guide to getting a job in New Zealand as a migrant covers New Zealand CV conventions, references and how hiring works here.

Your Job Hunt keeps every role you are chasing on one board, saved from Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed or a careers page in one press, with your own notes on each employer, so you can write down when you checked the accredited employer list and what you found. With On the Move, visa mode adds a work rights box to each job for recording whether the employer is listed as accredited, with the register a tap away.

Keep every employer check in one place