Want to hire a migrant worker for your New Zealand business?

Employer accreditation is INZ’s approval for a New Zealand business to hire migrant workers on the Accredited Employer Work Visa. It is the first of three steps:

1. Employer accreditation. INZ checks your business.
2. Job Check. INZ checks the job you want to fill and, where the test applies, that no suitable New Zealander is available.
3. Work visa. Your worker applies for their AEWV using the job token from your Job Check.

Each step must be approved before the next one can start.

INZ publishes the list of accredited employers on its website.

You may also see “accredited employer” used for ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme. That is a separate scheme about workplace injury cover and has nothing to do with immigration.

Yes, if you want to hire someone on an AEWV. You also need to be accredited to support a worker who is applying for one of these resident visas:

• Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
• Work to Residence Visa
• Transport Work to Residence Visa
• Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa
• Straight to Residence Visa

Accreditation does not cover self-employment. Jobs planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing crops in horticulture and viticulture go through the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme instead.

If your business is a sole trader, partnership or trust, New Zealand must be the main place of residence for the sole trader, or for at least one partner or trustee.

“Jobs at one time” counts every job linked to your business, including job tokens you have not used yet.

Franchisee accreditation was a separate category for applications made before 16 June 2024. Franchisees applying now use the same types as every other business.

Every business must meet the same core requirements, whichever type it applies for.

A genuine, viable business

Your business must be registered as an employer with Inland Revenue and able to keep paying wages and running costs. INZ looks for at least one of these:

• no loss (before depreciation and tax) over the last 24 months
• positive cash flow for each of the last 6 months
• enough capital or outside investment, for example from a founder, parent company or trust, to keep the business viable
• a credible plan for at least the next two years, such as contracts for work

Evidence can include financial statements, GST, PAYE and income tax returns, bank statements, cash-flow forecasts, contracts for work and lease agreements.

Settlement support for your workers

Within one month of a worker starting, you must give them information about:

• accommodation options
• transport, including driving, driver licences and public transport
• the cost of living
• how to access healthcare
• Citizens Advice Bureau services
• local community groups
• how to get an IRD number
• training and qualifications in your industry
• hazards in the job or industry

A clean compliance record

INZ checks the business and its key people (see the next question). Things that count against an application include:

• being on the stand-down list for breaching employment standards or immigration law
• giving INZ false or misleading information, or holding back relevant information
• employing someone who did not have the right visa, or outside their visa conditions
• key people with a history of immigration breaches in other businesses
• key people banned from managing a company
• certain convictions under the Immigration Act 2009 or the Crimes Act 1961

Where there has been a problem in the past, INZ looks at whether it was put right, whether steps are in place to stop it happening again, and whether it is satisfied you will comply in future.

Checking your worker’s skills

You must take reasonable steps to make sure the person you hire meets the skills threshold and is qualified for the job. That can mean sighting work references, payslips or qualification certificates, a practical test, an interview, or checking occupational registration. You must keep records of the steps taken, even when a recruiter does this for you.

No costs passed on to workers

You cannot pass recruitment, training or equipment costs to a worker or applicant, in New Zealand or overseas. That includes:

• advertising and recruitment agency fees
• accreditation and Job Check fees, and immigration adviser fees
• compulsory training and induction
• safety equipment, branded uniforms and trade testing
• tools that you keep ownership of

You also cannot charge a worker to get or keep a job, or take unreasonable deductions for accommodation, travel or food.

Fair employment agreements

Employment agreements for AEWV workers cannot include a trial period.

INZ checks the people who control a business as well as the business itself. Key people include directors, partners, sole traders, trustees, chief executives and school principals.

It also includes anyone with real influence over the business without the title, for example a person who decides which roles are needed, makes hiring decisions, manages the finances or takes a share of the profits.

If a key person has a history of immigration breaches in another business, INZ needs to be satisfied that the same thing will not happen in yours.

A triangular employment arrangement is where you employ the worker but another business directs their day-to-day work. Labour hire, temping, secondments, and group companies placing staff with a subsidiary all count. These employers need High Volume Accreditation – Triangular Employment and must also:

• only place workers with businesses that meet INZ’s requirements and agree to site visits
• have a plan to monitor workers’ conditions and safety, including regular contact and site visits
• have processes to resolve complaints, and report serious breaches to the right authority
• make sure at least 15% of placed staff are New Zealand citizens or residents on at least 30 guaranteed hours a week, unless only one worker is placed
• have employed staff in New Zealand for the 12 months before applying

Triangular accreditation is granted for 12 months at a time.

1. Check your business and its key people meet the requirements above.
2. Have your New Zealand Business Number (NZBN), Inland Revenue number and Business Industry Classification code ready.
3. Choose your accreditation type.
4. Apply using INZ’s online form, with evidence where the form asks for it.
5. Pay the fee.

INZ may check what you send, including by interviewing you, visiting your premises, or asking other agencies such as Inland Revenue and the Labour Inspectorate. Refusing a site visit without good reason can lead to a decline. Some applications are now assessed and approved by an automated system.

Fees as at 8 October 2026. Fees change, so check INZ’s fees page before you apply.

These are your costs as the employer. You cannot pass them on to the worker, and the same applies to any adviser fees.

Processing times change through the year. INZ publishes current wait times for accreditation, Job Checks and AEWVs. Missing information usually leads to a request for more, which adds time.

Accreditation ends at the start of the day after the expiry date.

Apply before your current accreditation expires. If INZ has accepted your renewal for processing before the expiry date, and you still meet the requirements, you can be given interim accreditation. It lasts for up to 3 months, or until INZ decides your renewal, whichever is first.

Renewal is not a formality. INZ looks back at whether you met your obligations during the previous accreditation period. Important risk areas include being unable to produce clear records showing that settlement support was provided and workers’ skills were checked, and failing to tell INZ on time about changes to key people or the business structure, or when a migrant worker’s employment ended early and notification was required.

Renewals are most often declined or delayed because of compliance gaps, a lack of dated evidence, or immigration or employment issues that have not been resolved.

If something went wrong, INZ considers whether you corrected it promptly, addressed the cause and can satisfy INZ that you will comply in future. It is up to you to show this.

Yes. If you need more than 5 jobs, you can apply to upgrade from Standard to High Volume Accreditation, with a fee. Your expiry date stays the same. If you have already applied to renew and need a different type, you can withdraw the renewal application before INZ decides it.

You must tell INZ within 10 working days if:

• your key people change
• your business structure changes, for example moving from a partnership to a company, or merging with another business
• an AEWV worker’s employment ends more than a month before their visa expires

Accreditation stays with the legal entity that was granted it, and it cannot be transferred. If your business becomes a new legal entity with a new NZBN, for example through a sale, a merger or moving from a partnership to a company, the new entity must apply for accreditation in its own right. If an accredited business merges into a business that is not accredited, the accreditation is treated as revoked.

Your migrant workers then usually need a Job Change to move to the new employer. Since November 2025, INZ can pause these Job Change applications where it has serious concerns about the employer, for example an accreditation revoked in the last 12 months or an active investigation. See our Job Change and Variation of Conditions guide.

In October 2025 INZ also said its system could not move job tokens automatically after a sale or restructure, so affected employers need to submit a new Job Check. Check INZ’s current advice before you act.

What many employers do not realise is how much a sale or restructure can affect their migrant staff. Get advice before the change, not after it.

1. Advertise the job, unless it is exempt, to check whether a suitable New Zealander is available.
2. For roles at ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5, list the job with Work and Income and interview suitable candidates they refer.
3. Apply for a Job Check. If it is approved, you receive a job token for each position.
4. Check your chosen worker meets the skills requirements, and offer them the job.
5. Your worker applies for their AEWV using the job token.
6. Give your worker settlement information within one month of them starting.

Job tokens last 6 months, or until your accreditation ends, whichever is first. Our Job Check guide covers advertising, Work and Income and job tokens in detail, and our Accredited Employer Work Visa guide covers your worker’s side.

INZ checks accredited employers during their accreditation. Checks can be desk-based or a site visit, with your permission. INZ can ask for evidence such as employment agreements, wage and time records, and the settlement information you gave your workers.

You must provide information INZ asks for within 10 working days. Not providing it without a good reason can lead to your accreditation being revoked. See our Post-Accreditation Checks guide.

Before declining, INZ must give you a chance to comment on any information that counts against your application. This usually comes as a potentially prejudicial information (PPI) letter. See our guide to PPI and RFI letters.

There is no right of appeal against a declined accreditation. You can ask INZ to reconsider within 14 calendar days of the decision, with a fee. A different officer reconsiders it under the same instructions. INZ does not have to consider new information or changes since the decision, and may decide a new application is the better route. See our Reconsideration Requests guide.

A reply to a PPI letter, or a reconsideration request, is where the detail matters most. If you have received either, talk to a licensed immigration adviser before you respond.

Yes. INZ may suspend your accreditation for up to 3 months at a time while it investigates possible non-compliance, and must suspend it while a prosecution is underway. INZ revokes accreditation if:

• checks show you no longer meet the requirements
• you refuse a site visit without good reason and INZ cannot be satisfied you meet the requirements
• you do not provide information INZ asked for within 10 working days, without good reason

What it means for your workers

• You cannot hire new migrant workers while your accreditation is suspended or revoked.
• Workers already in New Zealand can keep working for you.
• Job tokens cannot be used during a suspension, and unused tokens are cancelled if accreditation is revoked.
• Workers who are still overseas may not be able to travel on their visa. INZ contacts them.

Serious breaches can also lead to infringement notices, a stand-down period, prosecution, or a permanent ban on supporting visas for migrant workers.

It can be a requirement. To support a worker applying for the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa, a Work to Residence Visa or the Straight to Residence Visa, you must be an accredited employer. You do not need a Job Check for these visas, but the worker has to meet each visa’s own requirements.

The problems that catch employers out are usually about what happens after accreditation, not the first application:

• Letting accreditation expire before applying to renew. There is no interim accreditation, you cannot hire while it has lapsed, and after 12 months you are back to a 12-month approval.
• Passing on costs that belong to the employer, such as adviser fees, uniforms or recruitment fees.
• Not telling INZ about changes to key people or the business structure within 10 working days.
• Selling or restructuring the business on the assumption that accreditation carries over.
• Not giving, or not recording, settlement information for each worker.
• Not keeping records of skills checks, especially when a recruiter handles hiring.
• Missing a deadline to reply to INZ during a check.

Knowing the rules is not the same as a successful application. INZ has discretion in several areas, such as how it weighs past non-compliance, and every business is different. If your situation is complex, book a Discovery Call.

What is an accredited employer in New Zealand?

A New Zealand business that INZ has approved to hire migrant workers on the Accredited Employer Work Visa, and whose accreditation has not expired or been revoked.

How long does it take to become an accredited employer?

It depends on INZ’s workload and how complete your application is. INZ publishes current wait times.

Is employer accreditation the same as ACC accreditation?

No. ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme is about managing workplace injury claims. Immigration accreditation is a separate approval from INZ.

Can I pass the accreditation fee on to my worker?

No. Accreditation and Job Check fees, adviser fees and recruitment costs are all the employer’s to pay.

Can a sole trader become an accredited employer?

Yes, if the business meets the requirements and New Zealand is the sole trader’s main place of residence.

Does accreditation mean my job is approved?

No. Accreditation approves your business. You still need a Job Check for each job you want to fill with a migrant worker.

How many migrant workers can I hire?

Up to 5 jobs at a time with Standard Accreditation, including unused job tokens. High Volume Accreditation has no limit.

What happens to my workers if my accreditation is revoked?

Workers already in New Zealand can keep working for you. You cannot hire new migrant workers, and unused job tokens are cancelled.

Do I need an immigration adviser to apply?

No, you can apply yourself. Employers often use a licensed immigration adviser when their business structure is complex, they have had compliance issues in the past, they are renewing after a problem, or they use triangular employment. See our employer immigration services.