Looking to hire migrants in New Zealand? The Accredited Employer Work Visa might be your solution, but don’t expect it to be easy. If you still have questions, contact Immigration Lawyer NZ.
Looking to hire migrants in New Zealand? Well, good luck navigating the visa minefield. There are a number of options, but none without their hurdles.
First up, the **Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)**. This is your golden ticket to hiring migrants for up to three years, provided you’ve jumped through the hoops. The hoops being a minimum pay of **NZD $29.66 an hour**, or the February 2023 median wage, unless the job’s on an exemption list. Not only that, but before you even think about offering the job to a migrant, you have to prove you couldn't find a suitable Kiwi. That's right, every stone must be unturned before you can look abroad.
Want to hire regularly or in bulk? It doesn’t get much easier. The government offers some options to speed things up if you're hiring a lot, but the process remains clunky. And that’s before you even start dealing with supporting the visa applications for each worker, which is another pile of paperwork.
Now, let’s be clear – there *are* other visa options for migrants to work in New Zealand, but it’s not exactly a buffet of choices. It’s a constant balancing act of proving no local workers are fit for the job, meeting wage thresholds, and navigating visa requirements. Even if you’re ready to hire overseas, the process will still test your patience and organisation.
But here’s the kicker – if you hire migrants often or have multiple vacancies to fill, you might be better off streamlining the whole operation by getting accredited under AEWV. It’s not a magic bullet, but it makes the paperwork marathon slightly more manageable. At the end of the day, it’s a numbers game – and the rules are stacked in favour of Kiwis, as they should be.
