Crew ConsultingAs the borders open and inflation rises, thousands of New Zealanders flock overseas to experience the world. In fact, The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment estimated up to 125,000 New Zealanders could leave the country in the next year.
What does that mean for Kiwi businesses looking to retain and attract the best talent? It’s never been more important to make sure your business is set up for overseas workers. But, after a few changes in legislation, it’s a little trickier for businesses looking to recruit across borders. In this blog, we’re going to go through the ins and outs of becoming an Accredited Employer and the points candidates need to know when searching for employment in New Zealand.
The regulatory landscape
The New Zealand government officially introduced the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) on July 4 this year. With that change, employers seeking to hire overseas talent need to become accredited.
The new AEWV replaces six work visa types, including the Essential Skills visa, the Talent (Accredited Employer) and Long Term Skills Shortage categories.
For now, employers who hire migrants holding open work visas (such as partnership or working holiday visas) do not need to become accredited to continue to employ these workers. However, that will change in 2023.
What migrant employees need to know
If you’re a migrant worker looking for work in New Zealand, it’s important to be prepared for what the process entails. You’ll need to apply for the Accredited Employer Work Visa and go through the Job Check.
You might be thinking, “Why do I have to go through the accreditation process at all??”
The reason is that Immigration New Zealand encourages businesses to train, upskill and hire New Zealand workers before they can consider migrants. An employer has to first prove they could not find any suitable New Zealanders for a role before they can hire workers from overseas. This is to support local employment opportunities and to ensure that migrants coming into NZ on an AEWV are filling roles where there is genuine need.
On the other hand, to protect candidates, employers need to get accredited to show that they are a viable business and continue to meet the Accredited Employer criteria.
An important point to note is that employers do not need to be accredited to hire migrants under other types of work visas, such as post-study or working holiday visas, or those migrants performing work covered by an Accredited Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.
The Job Check is the second step in the new employee-led process and it’s mandatory to complete before businesses can support and hire migrant workers.
How becoming an Accredited Employer will benefit your business
With all the new rules to get your head around - not to mention new fees - it's understandable that a lot of businesses, particularly small businesses, are questioning whether or not it’s worth bothering with the process of becoming an accredited employer.
As New Zealand reopens to the world, it's never been more important to do all that can be done to stay ahead of the competition.
As Crew Technology’s Principal Consultant Rachael Tobeck puts it, “The talent pool in New Zealand is pretty small.” And it got smaller over the last couple of years.
“With borders closed, we had people on visas who had to go home; and we haven’t been able to have people come in,” Tobeck explains.
This is, as she sees it, “a critical issue” for New Zealand employers who need to cast their nets far and wide to attract the absolute best talent.
Tobeck says she is seeing more companies than ever looking at hiring staff from overseas, even companies who did not consider doing so in the past.
For her, the accreditation is a no-brainer. “If you’re not accredited, you cannot hire someone under that visa. If you want to look outside NZ, you have to do this accreditation.”
Tobeck sees the new visa category as a good chance for both New Zealand businesses and people looking to move to New Zealand for work.
“Some employers had immigration in the too-hard basket but hopefully this new process makes things easier and quicker,” she adds.
While the whole process can, at first, feel overwhelming, Crew Technology can help guide employers and migrants in the right direction.
What does being an Accredited Employer mean?
Any employer looking to hire migrants under this new visa needs to be an Accredited Employer. That means that employers must meet a number of criteria, as set by Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
Accreditation requirements and costs may vary, depending on the number of migrant workers you intend to hire, so having a clear recruitment strategy has never been more important.
There are essentially four types of accreditation employers can undertake. These are initially granted for 12 months, the first two are renewed every two years, while franchisees and third party ones require annual renewals.
- Standard accreditation - for companies looking to support up to five migrant workers in a 12-month period, under the AEWV category.
- High-volume accreditation - for companies looking to support six or more migrant workers under the AEWV category.
- Franchisee accreditation - with no limit to how many migrants you can hire.
- Controlling third party accreditation - for businesses who place migrants with third parties while being the direct employer named in the employment agreement.
Employers need to prove to INZ that they attempt to hire within New Zealand for the position. The role in question also needs to pay at least the NZ median wage.
The accreditation programme is only open to businesses that INZ describes as “viable” and “genuine”. Those definitions carry a number of financial requirements. For example, to become accredited, you may not have made a loss over the last two years. You also have to have had a positive cash flow each month for the last six months and you need to have a credible two-year plan to ensure your business will remain viable for the foreseeable future.
In addition to these criteria, you must also commit to settlement support and commit to paying all recruitment costs.
Note that during the accreditation process, INZ can ask for additional information and also undertake site visits.
Employer accreditation is, effectively, step one of the three-step process in hiring a migrant on an AEWV.
Step two is the job check, where INZ assesses the job details.
Step three is the migrant check, where INZ looks at the migrant’s credentials and decides whether or not to grant the visa.
How much does it cost to become an Accredited Employer?
Employer accreditation costs vary depending on the type of accreditation needed.
For standard accreditation, the fee is NZD $740. For high volume, the fee goes up to $1220. Franchisee accreditation costs $1980 and controlling third party accreditation carries a fee of $3870.
You can also upgrade from standard to high-volume accreditation for $480.
Reconsideration of a declined application is $240.
According to INZ, the accreditation process is estimated to take approximately ten working days.
Get in touch today to find out more about the Accredited Employer Work Visa and how Crew can help you source the absolute best talent to help your business thrive.