NZ company looking to hire workers from overseas?
Wait, what? Can I hire people from overseas again? Yep, you sure can. It’s just a bit different.
We’ve had a few questions over the past couple of weeks around what’s happening with Immigration into NZ and whether there’s anything that you need to do differently. The short answer is yes, things have changed, and you now need to be accredited to be able to hire people from overseas.
From the 4th of July 2022 the Essential Skills Work Visa is no longer available.
Immigration NZ have just introduced a new system of accreditation. It looks to be much more aligned to ensuring migrants aren't exploited and instead the onus is going on the companies that employ them to help them to settle into the country. Immigration NZ are estimating it should only take 10 days to get employer accreditation through but we’ve seen a couple of companies getting it though within only a few days in the past week.
There are a few stages - none of which look to be particularly challenging - in order to get your business accredited. You also register the key individuals who are responsible for the hiring (to stop the dodgy people setting up new companies). There are education modules to complete which cover areas on things like the legalities of how to hire, and you're now required to provide a new migrant with info to help them settle in - things like how to find public transport and access healthcare within their first month.
When you’re talking about new hires, anyone who earns over the median wage ($27.76 as of 4 July) is eligible to apply for an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).
The first step is the accreditation:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/employ-migrants/new-employer-accreditation-and-work-visa/steps-to-hiring-migrants-on-the-aewv
This is from the link above:
Apply for employer accreditation
You can apply for 1 of 4 different levels of accreditation.
Standard accreditation is for standard businesses hiring up to 5 migrants.
High-volume accreditation is for standard businesses hiring 6 or more migrants.
Franchisee accreditation is for businesses that are part of a franchise. There is no limit to how many migrants you can hire.
Controlling third party accreditation is for businesses who place migrants with third parties while being the direct employer named in the employment agreement. There is no limit to how many migrants you can hire.
You will pay a fee depending on the type of accreditation you need.
You need to have:
an NZBN unless you are a foreign diplomatic mission
a business IRD number.
We estimate it will take 10 working days to process complete standard and high-volume applications from compliant employers.
And this is how to do that:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/employ-migrants/new-employer-accreditation-and-work-visa/accreditation-types-and-employers-requirements
So first steps first, set your company up to be accredited, then there’s a process around ensuring the job is right and put through a job check process which is valid for 6 months. There’s a green list for roles that are deemed to be scarce which means you don’t necessarily have to demonstrate your advertising process, otherwise it’s a case of submitting proof you tried to hire within NZ first. It’s also tied to a minimum salary.
You have to prove you’ve advertised the role for at least 2 weeks UNLESS the role pays at least twice the median wage, or is an occupation on the Green List. The Green List has roles like CIO, ICT PM, ICT Manager, Software Engineer, ICT Security Specialist and Multimedia Specialist on it. They’re all expected to earn a minimum of $57.69/hr (approx. $116k) to be exempt from the advertising requirement.
Once you’re accredited you need to get a Job Check done by putting the Job Description and proposed Employment Agreement (& any advertising) through to them. Each Job Check lasts for 6 months.
Once you’ve done that, then the person can apply for their visa.
There are extra requirements if you’re hiring via a third party and lots of different steps depending on your hiring circumstances and the kind of people you’re needing. There’s a lot more information on the Immigration website and a contact number for employers who would like help which is 0508 967 569.
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/employ-migrants/hire-a-candidate
If you’d like a hand with translating any of this or setting up your HR processes to make sure they’re streamlined and make sense, feel free to get in touch.
Disclaimer: Just a note I’m not an immigration advisor and you should seek legal advice if you’re not sure of anything
I'm Steph, I’m an experienced pragmatic HR person who loves coffee, our puppy, music & catching up with interesting people. I’m the Principal People & Culture Consultant at Sunstone, an IT Recruitment & HR company specialising in helping companies with employment issues, building healthy work cultures & helping individuals to navigate career pathways in Christchurch & South Island of New Zealand.