How do I check if a New Zealand employer is accredited?

It is a search tool on Immigration New Zealand's website, under Work → Requirements for work visas → Approved employers. INZ says to use it if you are applying for a visa that needs you to work for an accredited employer, or if you already hold one and want to change jobs. The Accredited Employer Work Visa is the main one, and the Skilled Migrant Category, Straight to Residence and Work to Residence visas also ask for a job with an accredited employer.

INZ does not publish a downloadable spreadsheet of every accredited employer. The search is the official source, and lists copied onto other websites go out of date as employers join, renew or lapse.

INZ's search takes either of two things:

• The employer's name. Company name or trading name; enter at least the first 3 characters. A business often trades under a different name from its registered company, so try both.
• The employer's NZBN. The New Zealand Business Number is 13 digits, and INZ's search needs all 13. You can look up a business's NZBN for free on the NZBN register.

Searching by NZBN is the more reliable of the two, because it points to exactly one legal entity. Two businesses can share a trading name; they cannot share an NZBN.

INZ is direct about it: some accredited employers have chosen not to be published in the results, and if you can't find an employer you should check with them directly. A missing result can mean any of these:

• the employer is accredited but has opted out of the public list
• you are searching the trading name and the accreditation is under the company name, or the other way round
• the accreditation has expired and not been renewed
• the employer has never been accredited.

Ask the employer which entity holds the accreditation and when it expires. A genuine accredited employer can tell you, and for an AEWV it is the employer who starts your application: INZ says the employer must send you a link to the online application form.

Accreditation is INZ's approval for a business to hire workers from overseas on an AEWV. INZ publishes three kinds and charges the employer for each (fees read on INZ's payment page on 2026-10-25):

• Standard: for businesses hiring up to 5 migrants. NZD $775.
• High-volume: for businesses hiring 6 or more migrants. NZD $1,280.
• Triangular: for employers who place workers with other businesses, such as labour hire. NZD $4,060.

These are the employer's costs, not yours. Your own AEWV application fee is separate and is on the AEWV page and in our visa fees tool.

INZ says an employer's first accreditation lasts 12 months. A renewal lasts 24 months for standard or high-volume accreditation and 12 months for triangular. If an accreditation lapses, INZ says existing workers can keep working until their visas expire where their visa conditions allow it, but the employer must be accredited again before a worker can move onto another AEWV with them.

Being on the list is not the same as being able to offer you a visa. INZ sets out the employer's side of an AEWV in this order:

1. The employer applies for accreditation.
2. The employer advertises the job and engages with Work and Income, where INZ requires it for that role.
3. The employer applies for a job check for the specific role. INZ charges NZD $735 for one, and says a job check is valid for 6 months or until the employer no longer has accreditation.
4. The employer asks you to apply for your AEWV through Immigration Online. INZ says a worker can only apply for the type of AEWV the job check was approved for.

So the useful question for an employer is not only "are you accredited?" but "has the job check for this role been approved?". Until it has, there is nothing for you to apply against.

Already in New Zealand on a visa that expires before the new AEWV is decided? INZ may give you an Interim Visa, and whether you can keep working on it depends on the visa you hold now. The combinations are in our Interim Visa guide.

Because the AEWV ties a visa to a named employer, it attracts scams: "accredited" jobs sold for a fee, or offers from businesses that do not exist. The list is your first check, the NZBN register is your second (does the business exist, and is the name the same?), and the third is who is helping you. Anyone giving immigration advice for New Zealand must be licensed unless exempt, and you can check an adviser's licence for free.

Paying an employer or a middleman for a job offer is a warning sign in itself. INZ publishes the fees it charges, and none of them is paid to get a job.