Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) "Phase 2" Changes Are Coming

According to the latest New Zealand immigration news, Erica Stanford knows the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) system is a mess—she's admitted as much. She stood in front of the Employers and Manufacturers Association recently, openly acknowledging the headaches caused by visa delays. It’s a bit refreshing to hear a politician admit there’s a problem, isn’t it? But the real question is, what’s she actually doing about it? Knowing about a problem is one thing, solving it is another.

Stanford’s been in the role for seven months now. The delays in processing these visas are brutal for businesses. Companies can’t find the staff they need, and overseas workers are left in limbo. And this isn't some minor issue; businesses are losing productivity, and the economic fallout is mounting.

But to be fair, she didn’t inherit a smooth-running machine. Labour’s AEWV scheme, introduced in 2022, was designed to help businesses recruit overseas workers as the economy recovered post-Covid. Sounds great, except they built it on trust in a world where risk was increasing. The result? A system open to abuse. Scams ran rife, and the timelines for processing became a joke. Stanford rightly points out that Labour’s promise of a 10-day turnaround for employer accreditation, job checks, and visa processing was never realistic. The system was always going to creak under pressure.

But here’s the rub. While she’s quick to highlight Labour’s mistakes, Stanford’s got her own job to do now. And what’s she offering as a fix? She talks about “fundamental changes” and a new system that focuses resources on high-risk employers and sectors, giving trusted businesses a smoother ride. The idea is to create a “smarter, more nuanced system” that balances quicker visa processing with border security.

That sounds sensible, but it’s light on detail. How exactly will she speed up the process for trusted employers? Will there be more staff at Immigration NZ? Will there be better tech to process these visas quicker? She hasn't said.

Meanwhile, businesses are still stuck. MBIE, the agency that handles immigration, is cutting staff due to budget restraints—hardly what you need when the system’s already in crisis. So, while Stanford says change is coming, businesses are left wondering when they’ll see it. Right now, it’s all words. We need to see action.