If your business employs migrant workers in New Zealand, maintaining your employer accreditation is essential. You might wonder: how do I renew my employer accreditation? 

An application for renewal of your accredited status is more than just a paperwork exercise. Immigration New Zealand expects clear, up-to-date evidence that you have met your obligations throughout the accreditation period, not just when you first applied. Read on to read more about renewing your accreditation.

Practical Tips

Here are a few easy tips to keep in mind when it comes to renewing your employer accreditation:

  1. Timing. Ideally, you should be applying at least six weeks before the expiry of your current employer accreditation.
  2. Evidence. Before you submit your renewal application, you will need to gather up-to-date evidence that you remain a viable and genuinely operating business. You will also need to ensure you have evidence of the settlement support information (accommodation and transport options, accessing healthcare and government services, induction/on-boarding guides etc.) which you were required to provide to all accredited employer work visa holders in your organisation.
  3. Employer compliance. Employers will need to confirm that they have not acted in a way which is prohibited by employer accreditation instructions. For example, they must not have charged their accredited employer work visa holders fees that would be unlawful in New Zealand, passed on any recruitment, training or compulsory equipment costs, or employed any accredited employer work visa holders under an employment agreement that includes a trial period. And while it might seem obvious, an employer must also have continued to comply with all relevant employment and immigration laws and must not have been included on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s list of non-compliant employers.
  4. Expiry. If you neglect to renew, or you choose to let your employer accreditation expire without applying for a renewal, you can continue to employ your accredited employer work visa holders until their visas expire, but you will not be able to employ any new work visa holders under the accredited employer or work-to-residence schemes. The good news is, that if you submit your renewal application before the expiry of your current accreditation, you may qualify for an interim 3-month accreditation so that any intended recruitment is not interrupted.

Case Study

Renewing your accreditation may appear straightforward, but employers can often encounter unexpected obstacles during the process. Below is an example of a case we dealt with recently.

The situation

An employer was looking to renew their employer accreditation. As part of their original application, they had a responsibility to notify Immigration New Zealand within 10 working days of any change to their key persons, change in their business structure, or if any accredited work visa holder employees had left employment more than a month before their visa was due to expire. In this case, one of the employees holding an accredited employer work visa had left under difficult circumstances several years earlier, and Immigration New Zealand had not been informed.

The action

The employer was concerned this oversight may jeopardise their renewal application and they came to us for advice. Our team was able to obtain assist them to rectify the non-compliance and satisfy Immigration New Zealand that they had put systems in place to ensure that that it would be informed when any employee holding an accredited employer work visa left their employment in future.

The conclusion

This case is a timely reminder that the obligations imposed on employers by the employer accreditation scheme do not only apply at the outset but remain through-out the period of accreditation.

Closing note

If your business has had recent challenges with accreditation compliance, this does not have to define your renewal outcome. With the right advice, you can address these challenges and move forward.  If you have any questions about applying for, or renewing, accredited status, or about your obligations as an accredited employer, please feel free to contact us.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

If you have any questions about these issues, please feel free to contact our Wellington and Rotorua based immigration law experts: