If you are an accredited employer preparing a Job Check for a specific role
AEWV Employer Accreditation Assistance — New Zealand
Recruit migrant workers with confidence — start with the right accreditation.
We help New Zealand employers prepare accreditation applications that hold together under assessment, plan renewals around business changes, and respond to post-accreditation checks with considered, legally framed submissions.
The basics
What is the Employer Accreditation?
An Immigration New Zealand approval that lets a New Zealand business recruit migrant workers under the Accredited Employer Work Visa framework — the first of three gates before a migrant can work for you.
Purpose
INZ approval required before a NZ business can sponsor migrant workers on the AEWV.
Process
Accreditation, then Job Check for the specific role, then the worker's own AEWV. The steps are sequential — accreditation gates the rest.
Categories
Three current categories — Standard, High-Volume, and Triangular. Franchisee accreditation closed to new applicants on 16 June 2024; legacy holders can still consider options.
Validity
Initial accreditation is generally issued for a shorter period than renewals. Renewal validity depends on the category.
Interim
Interim accreditation can bridge a renewal where the application is lodged before expiry.
When not needed
Not required if you only recruit NZ citizens and residents, or if your migrant workers hold visas that don't require an accredited employer.
Not sure if accreditation is the right step?Some businesses need it, some don't, and some need a category change rather than a fresh application. Talk to us before you start so we can match the right step to your situation.
Picture being able to make a job offer to an overseas candidate knowing your accreditation is current, your obligations are documented, and your records are in the shape Immigration New Zealand would expect if it checked tomorrow.
When our help makes a difference
Where we step in — and what we do
Some immigration processes are approved without much friction. Some situations carry real risk of delay, hard pushback or decline.
Real cases · Illustrative
Situations we've helped with
Every case is different. These are illustrative and don't guarantee a particular outcome.
Avoidable problems
Common risks — and how to reduce them
Visitor Visa applications can be declined or delayed for reasons that are sometimes avoidable with better preparation.
- 01High impact
Genuine intentions assessment
Weak ties to a home country, inconsistent travel history, or vague explanations of the purpose of a visit can raise concerns. A well-prepared application addresses these points directly with supporting evidence.
- 02High impact
Insufficient financial evidence
Bare-minimum bank balances, unclear income sources, or missing sponsorship documentation can lead to requests for further information or decline.
- 03Medium impact
Health and character flags
Applicants from countries without a low TB incidence may need a chest X-ray. Those with criminal history may need police certificates. Out-of-date evidence delays processing.
- 04Medium impact
Passport validity
Your passport must be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure date. Travelling on a passport close to expiry can result in being refused boarding or refused entry at the border.
- 05High impact
Misrepresentation
Providing false, misleading, or incomplete information — even unintentionally — can result in decline, and may affect future visa applications.
- 06Manageable
Timing
Applying too close to your intended travel date, or failing to apply for an extension before your current visa expires, creates complications that are difficult to resolve.
Important constraints
What the Employer Accreditation doesn't cover
Accreditation authorises the employer. It doesn't issue a visa to any specific worker, and it doesn't replace other employer obligations.
Not permitted
Accreditation is the wrong step if any of these applies.
We'll tell you up front if your situation doesn't actually need accreditation, or if a different employer-side step fits better.
Recruit only New Zealand citizens and residents
Accreditation isn't required for non-migrant hires.
Hire a migrant under a visa that doesn't require an accredited employer
Accreditation may not apply. We can confirm in an initial conversation.
Get a visa granted for a specific worker
That's the worker-side step. See the Accredited Employer Work Visa.
Get a specific role approved for a migrant hire
That's the Job Check stage. See Labour Market Test & Job Check.
Hire under Global Workforce Seasonal, Peak Seasonal, or Specific Purpose pathways
These sit outside the AEWV accreditation framework and have their own rules.
Find the right pathway
Other options we can also help with
If a different immigration process fits your situation, we can take you there directly.
Working with us
What the process looks like
We will guide you step by step on your Employer Accreditation process, from start to finish.
Initial enquiry
Short discussion to understand the business, the category that fits, any prior accreditation history, and what's driving the timeline — first hire, renewal, query, or transaction. We'll tell you up front if a different step fits better.
Service engagement
Letter of engagement signed, invoice paid. We open the file and map the timeline against any expiry date or business event.
Evidence preparation
We work through Key Personnel mapping, corporate structure documentation, settlement support evidence, and record-keeping practices — so the application engages the criteria head-on.
Lodgement
We file the application on your behalf and confirm receipt with Immigration New Zealand.
Monitoring & response
If INZ requests further information or runs a post-decision check, we draft the response with you — framed around remediation rather than defensiveness.
Decision & next steps
We walk you through the outcome. If granted, we explain the obligations attached and how renewals will work. If declined, we work through reasons and your realistic options — including category change or re-application strategy.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
The value of working with an immigration lawyer on accreditation sits in the preparation stage — reviewing your evidence base against what an assessor will look at, making sure Key Personnel are correctly identified across your corporate structure, and confirming that your settlement support and HR materials reflect what you would actually do for a migrant worker. Professional support means the application is tested against the assessment framework before it goes in, rather than after a request for further information surfaces a gap. Many of the applications we work on began as internal projects where something in the evidence did not come together the way the business expected, and the rework cost more time than getting the preparation right from the start.
Your HR team generally remains central to the application. Key Personnel information, employment agreements, settlement support practices, and record-keeping systems usually sit with HR, and your team tends to know the business better than any external adviser. Our role is typically to work alongside that — reviewing how the evidence hangs together, flagging where the documentation and the underlying practice need to be more closely aligned, and handling the parts that benefit from immigration law framing, such as Triangular contracts or responses to Immigration New Zealand queries. We aim to complement the HR function rather than duplicate it.
A commercial event that coincides with renewal is one of the more common reasons employers contact us. The interaction between the two can matter: a share sale may have different implications from an asset sale, and a restructure can change what the renewal needs to represent about the business. Where possible, we prefer to be involved before the transaction closes, so that accreditation implications can be considered as part of due diligence rather than discovered afterwards. Where the transaction has already happened, we work with the position as it is and focus on presenting the business accurately at renewal. Outcomes will depend on the facts and on how Immigration New Zealand assesses the renewal.
Post-accreditation contact can range from a routine request for information through to a proposal to suspend or revoke accreditation. In each case, the early steps tend to matter: understanding what is actually being asked, gathering the records that exist, and framing a response that addresses the substance rather than reacting defensively. We help businesses work through that process — identifying what the response needs to cover, assembling the supporting material, and engaging with Immigration New Zealand in a considered way. We cannot promise a particular outcome, because the decision sits with Immigration New Zealand, but the quality of the response is a factor that is within the employer’s control.
This is a common situation, and it generally works well. Employer accreditation sits at the intersection of immigration law and employment obligations, so there is often existing advice we can build on rather than duplicate. Where you already have trusted employment counsel, we typically liaise with them on the employment-adjacent aspects of accreditation — employment agreements, settlement support practice, minimum standards compliance — while we focus on the immigration and accreditation-specific work. If preferred, we can also take the lead on the accreditation side and feed relevant findings back to your existing advisers.
Choosing between accreditation categories is often more about how the business actually operates than about preference. Where workers are directly employed and directly managed within the accredited entity, Standard accreditation is generally the starting point. Where workers are placed with another organisation that directs their day-to-day work, Triangular accreditation may be the correct category, and the contractual arrangement with the Controlling Third Party becomes part of what Immigration New Zealand assesses. We work through the operational reality with you before the category decision is made, because applying under the wrong category can create avoidable issues later.
New Franchisee accreditation applications closed on 16 June 2024, but legacy franchisee-accredited businesses remain in scope and generally continue to have renewal options available under transitional arrangements. The practical questions for businesses in this position are usually about what the category’s closure means for medium-term planning — whether to move toward Standard or Triangular accreditation at renewal, whether to restructure the franchise arrangement, or how to approach the next renewal within the legacy rules while keeping other options open. We can work through those questions with you.
Engagements are scoped to the work involved, and the scope varies considerably. A first-time accreditation for a business with a straightforward structure looks quite different from a Triangular application or a response to a post-accreditation check. We typically begin with an initial discussion to understand the situation, then set out a proposed scope of work and indicative fee structure in writing before any substantive work begins. We do not publish fixed prices on this page because doing so would misrepresent how the work actually runs. Our aim is to be clear about scope and cost from the outset, so there are no surprises.
Yes. Most engagements begin with a short initial discussion so we can understand what you are working through and you can get a sense of whether our involvement would add value. That conversation is not legal advice and does not commit either side to anything — it is a chance to see whether the fit is right and what the next sensible step might look like.
Hire with confidence. We'll handle the accreditation.
Whether your immigration process is straightforward or involves complicating factors, we can help you understand your options and put your best case forward.
About MyLaw
MyLaw is a New Zealand law firm with a focus on immigration law.
Our team is led by Michael Yoon, a New Zealand lawyer and member of the New Zealand Law Society.
He holds a current practising certificate and works across a range of immigration matters, from Employer Accreditation matters to complex cases involving prior refusals, character issues, and multi-visa strategies.
Get in touch.
Whether you are approaching a first accreditation, a renewal, a post-accreditation query, or a transaction that touches accreditation, we are happy to discuss how we can help. We work with employers across all levels of complexity.
Contact us for an initial discussion about your situation, or book a consultation with a member of the team. For a broader view of our employer-focused immigration services, see our Employer Immigration Services page.
