Is That New Zealand Job Offer Real? How to Check an Accredited Employer
Employment supporting a New Zealand work or residence application must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment. Paying for a job offer invalidates it. A real Accredited Employer Work Visa employer can tell you their accreditation status and where they are in the three-step process — an employer who cannot is the first red flag.
Quick Facts
| The rule that settles most cases | Employment must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment |
| The AEWV process | Three steps: employer accreditation → Job Check → the migrant's visa application |
| Accreditation types | Standard NZ$775 · High volume NZ$1,280 · Triangular employment NZ$4,060 |
| Franchisee accreditation | Closed on 16 June 2024. It no longer exists |
| Standard accreditation | For employers hiring up to 5 migrants |
| High volume accreditation | For employers hiring 6 or more |
| First accreditation lasts | 12 months. On renewal, 24 months for standard or high volume; 12 months for triangular |
| Green List Tier 2 employment | Employer accredited at the time of the application, 30+ guaranteed hours a week, permanent or fixed-term for at least 12 months |
| Employer obligations | Must not pass recruitment costs to workers |
| Employing an unlicensed adviser | An offence in its own right: up to NZ$10,000 and/or 2 years' imprisonment |
| Checked | August 2026 |
The rule that decides most cases
Before any of the checks below, there is one test that resolves a large share of suspect offers on its own.
Employment supporting a New Zealand work or residence application must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment.
That is a requirement in the immigration instructions, not a piece of advice. It means an offer you paid for is not acceptable employment for immigration purposes — so if someone asks you for money in exchange for a job offer, the transaction has already destroyed the thing you were buying. You would be paying for a document that cannot support your application.
The same instruction underpins the employer obligation that accredited employers must not pass recruitment costs to workers. A genuine accredited employer knows this, because it is one of the conditions they signed up to.
If money is being requested in exchange for a job offer, you can stop the analysis there.
How the AEWV process actually works
Understanding the sequence is the fastest way to test whether someone on the other end of an email is a real employer.
The Accredited Employer Work Visa runs in three steps, in order:
- Employer accreditation. The employer applies to INZ and is accredited. Standard NZ$775, high volume NZ$1,280, triangular employment NZ$4,060.
- Job Check. The employer has the specific role checked, including advertising requirements where they apply. NZ$735.
- The migrant's visa application. Only then does the worker apply, referencing the approved job. NZ$1,540.
The worker's application is the last step, not the first. See the AEWV three-step process.
That sequence is a test in itself. A genuine employer recruiting a migrant has already done steps one and two, or knows exactly where they are in doing them. An employer who cannot name their accreditation status is a red flag. Someone who has never heard of a Job Check is not recruiting under the AEWV.
Step 1: Ask the employer directly, in writing
Send these questions by email so you have the answers on record. A real employer answers them in a sentence each.
- Are you an accredited employer for the AEWV, and what type of accreditation do you hold? The answer should be standard, high volume or triangular employment.
- When does your accreditation expire? First accreditation lasts 12 months; renewals run 24 months for standard and high volume, 12 months for triangular. A real employer knows their date.
- Has a Job Check been approved for this role? If not, at what stage is it?
- What is the advertised pay range and the guaranteed hours? AEWV roles require at least 30 guaranteed hours a week, and the pay offered must match what was advertised.
- Which entity will be my legal employer? Under triangular employment arrangements, the employer that holds the accreditation is not the business you work at day to day.
Vagueness on all five is more meaningful than vagueness on any one. Real employers are often slow to reply; they are rarely unable to say whether they are accredited.
Step 2: Verify the company exists and matches
Independent of immigration status, check the business is real and is the business it claims to be.
- Company records. Search the New Zealand Companies Register for the legal entity name — not the brand name. Check the registered address and whether the company is currently registered.
- The domain. A real employer emails from its own domain. An "HR manager" of a large New Zealand company writing from a free webmail address is a mismatch worth stopping on.
- The phone number. Find the company's number independently and call it. Do not use the number in the email you are checking.
- The job. Does the role appear on the company's own careers page, or on a general job platform such as those INZ names when describing advertising requirements? AEWV roles generally have to be advertised on a general, national job listing platform, unless an exemption applies.
A note on advertising exemptions, because their absence is not proof of anything: a role does not have to be advertised if it is on the Green List and meets Green List requirements, if it pays at least NZ$70.00 an hour, or if it is on the Global Workforce Seasonal Visa job list and the hire is on that visa. So a genuine senior role may never have been advertised publicly.
Step 3: Check the accreditation status through official channels
Do not take a screenshot of an "accreditation certificate" as proof. Images are trivially edited, and this is a common element in fabricated offers.
INZ publishes information for checking employer accreditation status. Start from immigration.govt.nz — typed, not clicked from an email — and follow its employer pages. Our guide to the process is in how to check if an employer is accredited.
One thing not to do: do not rely on "VisaView" as an employer checking tool. That name circulates widely in older guidance, and it was not found anywhere on the current INZ site in an August 2026 review. If a page tells you to use it, that page has not been updated in some time.
Step 4: Test the offer against the published requirements
A fabricated offer usually fails on the details, because the person writing it does not know the rules.
For Green List Tier 2 employment used for the Work to Residence pathway, the requirements include:
- the employer is accredited at the time of the application
- the work is full-time — at least 30 guaranteed hours per week
- the employment is permanent, or fixed-term for at least 12 months
- pay is at or above the rate specified for that occupation
- the employment is genuine and not offered as a result of payment
An offer of 20 hours a week, or a three-month contract, does not meet those requirements whoever sent it. See the Green List explained.
For the AEWV generally, the advertised job must state the key tasks and responsibilities, the minimum and maximum rate of pay, the type of work and minimum guaranteed hours, and the minimum skills, experience or qualifications required. The pay actually offered must match what was advertised. An offer with no hours, no pay range and no duties is not shaped like a real one.
The red flags, collected
| Signal | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Any request for money for the job offer | Employment must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment. This one is disqualifying by itself |
| Asked to pay recruitment costs | Accredited employers must not pass recruitment costs to workers |
| Cannot state their accreditation status | The employer is the first of three steps. They would know |
| Has never heard of a Job Check | They are not recruiting under the AEWV |
| A "franchisee accreditation" | That category closed on 16 June 2024. It does not exist |
| Free webmail address for a company role | Domain mismatch |
| A job offer with no interview | Unusual for any genuine skilled role |
| Pressure and a deadline | Urgency is the standard tool for preventing checks |
| Payment in gift cards or cryptocurrency | Not how any legitimate New Zealand transaction works |
| Offers to "arrange" your visa faster for a fee | INZ operates no expedited or premium channel at any price |
| An "adviser" attached to the offer who is not on the IAA register | INZ will refuse to accept or will decline an application naming an unlicensed adviser |
That last row is worth expanding. Many fake job offers arrive bundled with an "immigration consultant" who will handle the paperwork. Search that person's name on the Immigration Advisers Authority register at app.mbieregisters.govt.nz, reached from www.iaa.govt.nz. It is free — see how to check an immigration adviser's licence.
Employers should note the same rule from the other side. Employing an unlicensed adviser is an offence carrying up to NZ$10,000 and/or two years' imprisonment. A New Zealand business that hands migrant staff to an unlicensed "visa consultant" is exposed in its own right.
Why this is such a common problem
Job-offer authenticity threads dominate the main New Zealand expat forum — "real or fake?", "genuine job offer?", "need to know if the employer is accredited", plus threads naming specific companies. That volume is direct evidence of unmet demand for a neutral place to check, and it is why fabricated offers keep working.
Two structural features make New Zealand a good target. The AEWV genuinely does require an employer to be accredited, so "we are an accredited employer" is a plausible and expected sentence. And the three-step process is opaque enough from outside that a candidate cannot easily tell which step should have happened by now.
If you have already paid
Do not send more money, and keep everything — the messages, the offer document, the invoices, the payment records, the website screenshots.
Then work out what actually happened, in this order: whether the company exists, whether any application was ever lodged, and whether any "adviser" involved was licensed. Those three answers determine which route is open to you. The sequence is set out in you've paid an immigration scammer: what to do now.
If you are already in New Zealand and the employment relationship itself has gone wrong, that is a different problem with its own protections — see migrant exploitation and the Protection Work Visa.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check if a New Zealand employer is accredited?
Ask the employer directly for their accreditation type and expiry, verify the company independently on the Companies Register, and check the accreditation status through INZ's own employer pages at immigration.govt.nz. Do not accept a screenshot of a certificate as proof, and do not rely on "VisaView", which was not found on the current INZ site.
Is this New Zealand job offer real?
Test it against the rules. Employment supporting a visa must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment, so any request for money is disqualifying. A real AEWV employer can state their accreditation type and whether a Job Check has been approved, and the offer will state duties, a pay range and minimum guaranteed hours of at least 30 a week.
Can I pay someone for a New Zealand job offer?
No. Employment supporting a work or residence application must be genuine and not offered as a result of payment. Paying for a job offer makes it unacceptable for immigration purposes, so the money buys nothing.
What are the three types of employer accreditation in New Zealand?
Standard (up to 5 migrants, NZ$775), high volume (6 or more, NZ$1,280) and triangular employment (placing migrants with a controlling third party, NZ$4,060). Franchisee accreditation closed on 16 June 2024 and no longer exists.
Does my employer have to be accredited before I apply?
For an Accredited Employer Work Visa, yes — accreditation is step one and the Job Check is step two, before the migrant's application. For Green List Tier 2 employment, the employer must be accredited at the time of the application.
What if my employer's accreditation expires?
First accreditation lasts 12 months, with 24 months on renewal for standard and high volume, and 12 months for triangular. Ask for the expiry date and check where you sit against it. What happens when accreditation is lost is covered in what happens if your employer loses accreditation.
Should I pay a recruiter to find me a job in New Zealand?
Accredited employers must not pass recruitment costs to workers, and employment obtained as a result of payment cannot support a visa application. Recruitment services charging candidates for placement into New Zealand jobs sit directly against both of those rules.
