A work visa allows you to work in New Zealand for a limited amount of time. You can apply for a work visa before travelling to New Zealand. A work visa granted offshore will allow you to travel to the New Zealand border. When you arrive, an immigration officer will check that you meet all the conditions of your visa to be granted entry permission to work in New Zealand. You can also apply for a work visa once you are already in New Zealand. Whether you apply onshore or offshore, your work visa may include travel conditions allowing a single entry (valid for one journey) or multiple entry (valid for more than one journey). A work visa may be endorsed in your passport or may be granted electronically, in which case you need to have and keep a printed copy.
Requirements for all visas based on employment
If you are applying for a work visa based on a job offer in New Zealand, you must provide details of your employment, including an offer of employment in writing. All offers of employment must be genuinely obtained from the employer (not something you paid your employer for or your employer asked you to pay).
All offers of employment must contain:
- The name, address, telephone and/or fax number of the employer, and
- The name and address of the person to whom the job is offered, and
- A full job description
The job description must include all of the following:
- Job title or designation
- Address of the place of employment if different from employer’s address
- Type of work, duties and responsibilities involved
- Details of pay and conditions of employment
- Any qualifications, experience or training required
- Confirmation of whether or not registration in New Zealand is required
- Duration of the job
- How long the offer of employment is open
If you are applying for an Essential Skills work visa, Post-study work visa (employer assisted), Silver Fern Practical Experience visa, Work to Residence Long Term Skill Shortage List visa or a Specific Purpose or Event work visa which requires a job offer, you must submit a completed Employer Supplementary Form (INZ 1113) from your employer, with your application.
This will contain all of the information about your employment described above.
You must also provide evidence that you are qualified by training or work experience to do the job you have been offered. This evidence can be provided in the form of copies of your qualifications and/or written confirmation of your work experience from previous employers.
If the job requires registration by law in New Zealand, you must also show evidence that you have met, or are able to meet registration requirements. In New Zealand, registration is required by law in order to undertake employment as one of the following:
Architect
Barrister
Barrister and solicitor
Cable jointer
Chiropractor
Clinical dental technician
Clinical dental therapist
Dental hygienist
Dental technician
Dental therapist
Dentist
Dietitian
Dispensing optician
Electrician
Electrical appliance serviceperson
Electrical engineer
Electrical inspector
Electrical installer
Electrical service technician
Financial adviser
Immigration adviser
Line mechanic
Medical laboratory scientist/technologist
Medical laboratory technician
Medical practicioner
Medical radiation technologist
Nurses and midwives
Occupational therapist
Optometrist
Osteopath
Pharmacist
Physiotherapist
Plumber, gasfitter and drainlayer
Podiatrist
Psychologist
Real estate agent
Cadastral (land title) surveyor
Teacher
Veterinarian
Note: Electrician – where a current ‘Employer Licence’ is held, and electrician working for that employer does not require occupational registration.
If you intend to work in one of these occupations in New Zealand you must provide evidence you can meet the relevant registration requirements before a work visa is granted. Dental or medical professionals who hold confirmation in writing from the New Zealand Dental or Medical Councils that they meet New Zealand registration requirements subject only to attending an interview with a representative of the Council immediately after arrival may be granted work visas. Your employer must have a history of compliance with all relevant employment and immigration law in force in New Zealand. For you to be eligible for a visa your employer must not be included on the Labour Inspectorate’s list of non-compliant employers, available at www.employment.govt. nz/employers-breaching-minimum-employmentstandards.
There are different types of work visas:
- Essential Skills Work
- Work to Residence
- Partnership
- Study to Work
- Specific Purpose or Event
- Horticulture and Viticulture Seasonal Work Stream
- Religious Worker
- Foreign Crew Fishing Vessels
- Students and Trainees