Immigration Minister Erica Stanford announced immigration reforms this week, including changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa requirements. These changes make filling gaps in your team with overseas staff easier, as the requirements are more reasonable.

The changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa requirements include:

• The AEWV changes taking effect from March include:

• Removing the median wage threshold, so jobs will not need to pay the median wage or higher to be eligible for the visa

• Reducing the minimum experience requirement for lower-skilled migrants to two years

• Visas for new applicants in lower-skilled ANZCO level 4-5 roles will last three years, instead of two - aligning with the maximum continuous stay

• AEWV applicants will have work rights if applying for other work visas or students visas, to support them with employment while their visa is processed

• Employers will need to advertise with MSD and be able to demonstrate they considered New Zealanders in good faith, but this will be changed to a declaration-based model

• Income thresholds for AEWV holders to support a dependent child increase from $43,322 to $55,844

• A re-design of the Job Check step of the AEWV process