The AEWV Stand-Down Period: 12 Months, Not 3 Years
The Accredited Employer Work Visa stand-down is normally 12 months in a row outside New Zealand, served after you reach your maximum continuous stay. It is not three years. The three-year figure people repeat is the maximum continuous stay for lower-skilled roles — a different rule, measured from a different point.
Quick Facts
| What the stand-down is | A period you must spend outside New Zealand before you can hold another Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) |
| How long | Normally 12 months in a row outside New Zealand |
| When it applies | After you have used up your maximum continuous stay |
| What triggers it | Reaching the maximum stay — not the length of any single visa |
| Maximum continuous stay | Up to 5 years at skill levels 1–3; 3 years at skill levels 4–5 |
| INZ's own heading for it | "Time required outside New Zealand" |
| Cost | None. It is a waiting period, not an application |
| How to avoid it | Move onto a residence pathway, or another visa category, before the maximum stay runs out |
Figures as at August 2026. Confirm the current rule on the INZ Accredited Employer Work Visa page before you act on it.
The rule in one paragraph
An AEWV does not let you stay in New Zealand indefinitely. Each skill level has a maximum continuous stay — the total amount of time you can spend in the country on this visa, across one visa or several in a row. When you reach it, you must leave. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) then requires a period outside the country before you can be granted another AEWV. That period is normally 12 months in a row, and INZ publishes it under the heading "Time required outside New Zealand".
A stand-down period is the general term for any enforced gap between visas. Our glossary entry on stand-down periods covers the term as it is used across the immigration system.
Where the "3-year stand-down" myth came from
The three-year figure is real. It is simply not a stand-down.
On 7 April 2024, INZ set the maximum continuous stay for AEWV holders in ANZSCO skill level 4 and 5 roles. Those workers can stay a maximum of three years in total. Skill level 1–3 workers can stay up to five years. Both numbers describe how long you may remain inside New Zealand.
Two things then happened at once:
- Sites and social media posts summarised the change as "three years for lower-skilled workers", without saying three years of what.
- Because the sentence appeared next to text about having to leave, readers merged the two ideas into "a three-year stand-down".
The result is a widely repeated claim that someone finishing an AEWV must wait three years before returning. That is wrong, and it is wrong in a direction that causes real harm — people abandon plans, sell property, or accept worse offers because they believe they are locked out for three years when the published rule is twelve months.
The two rules side by side
| Maximum continuous stay | Stand-down | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Time inside New Zealand on this visa | Time outside New Zealand between visas |
| How long | 5 years (skill levels 1–3) · 3 years (skill levels 4–5) | Normally 12 months in a row |
| When it starts | When you first arrive and start work on the visa | When you leave after reaching the maximum stay |
| Where the "3 years" belongs | Here | Not here |
| Introduced / current as at | Skill level 4–5 maximum set 7 April 2024 | Current on the INZ AEWV page, August 2026 |
If you take nothing else from this page: three years is a ceiling on time in New Zealand. Twelve months is the gap afterwards.
What "12 months in a row" actually means
The wording matters. INZ describes the requirement as 12 months in a row outside New Zealand — a continuous block, not 12 months added up from several short trips. A person who leaves, returns for a holiday after eight months, then leaves again has not completed a continuous 12-month period.
The rule also attaches to the AEWV, not to New Zealand generally. It restricts the grant of another Accredited Employer Work Visa. It is not a ban on entering the country, and it is not a rule about other visa categories. What any other category requires is set by that category's own instructions.
Because the period is counted from your departure, the practical questions — when your maximum stay is reached, when your visa expires, what date your clock starts — depend on your own visa history. INZ, or a licensed immigration adviser, can confirm those dates against your record. This site cannot, and no site should try.
Who never reaches the stand-down at all
The stand-down only bites at the end of the maximum continuous stay. Most AEWV holders who plan ahead never get there, because they change status first.
- Residence. A resident visa is not an AEWV, so the maximum stay and the stand-down stop being relevant. The routes that most commonly apply are the two Green List tiers, the Skilled Migrant Category, and the Care Workforce and Transport sector work-to-residence visas. See AEWV to residence pathways for how each one works and what it demands.
- A different work visa. The rules that limit the AEWV are AEWV rules. Other work visas — for example the Partner of a Worker Work Visa — set their own conditions.
- Leaving before the maximum stay is reached. The stand-down is triggered by exhausting the maximum, not by leaving. Someone who spends two years here on a skill level 1–3 role and goes home has not used up their allowance.
INZ has also announced that from 2027, AEWVs will become extendable by up to 12 months. Settings for that change were not published at the time of writing, and an announced change is not a rule you can rely on. Treat it as a signal to re-check before you assume how much time you have.
Step 1: Find the maximum stay that applies to your role
Your maximum continuous stay follows the skill level of the job, not your qualifications or your salary. Skill levels 1–3 carry up to five years; levels 4–5 carry three. Jobs are classified under ANZSCO or the National Occupation List, and the two systems are not interchangeable — see AEWV skill levels explained.
Step 2: Work out how much of it you have already used
Continuous stay counts time already spent in New Zealand on the visa, including earlier AEWVs held one after another. Since April 2025, time on an interim visa also counts toward continuous stay and toward work experience. Your visa record in your Immigration Online account is the source; a decision letter is not a running total.
Step 3: Decide before the balance runs out, not after
Every alternative to the stand-down — residence, a different visa category, a renewal — has its own lead time, and residence applications in particular are measured in months rather than weeks. Once the maximum stay is reached, the options narrow to leaving. Working backwards from the date your allowance ends is the only way to keep choices open.
What the stand-down is not
- It is not a penalty. It applies to people who complied with every condition. Nothing has gone wrong.
- It is not a ban on visiting. It restricts the grant of another AEWV. Visitor visa rules are separate and are set out in our visitor visa guide.
- It cannot be shortened by money. There is no priority processing. Nobody can move an application up the queue at any price, and anyone offering to shorten a stand-down in return for money is describing something that does not exist.
- It is not the same as an employer stand-down. Employers who breach their obligations can be placed on a stand-down list that stops them hiring migrants. That is a separate mechanism — see what happens when an employer loses accreditation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the AEWV stand-down period 3 years?
No. The stand-down is normally 12 months in a row outside New Zealand. The three-year figure is the maximum continuous stay for ANZSCO or National Occupation List skill level 4 and 5 roles — the longest you can remain in New Zealand on the visa, not the gap afterwards.
What is the "AEWV balance"?
It is the informal name for how much of your maximum continuous stay is left. If your role is skill level 1–3, the allowance is up to five years in total; at skill levels 4–5 it is three. Time already spent in New Zealand on the visa, including on an interim visa since April 2025, uses it up. AEWV maximum continuous stay explains how the allowance is built.
Do I have to leave the day my maximum stay ends?
Your obligation is to hold a valid visa. Staying in New Zealand after a visa expires makes you unlawfully here, with immediate consequences for work rights, health entitlement and future applications. What options exist near the end of a maximum stay depends on your circumstances, and that is a question for a licensed immigration adviser rather than a website.
Does time outside New Zealand during my visa count toward the 12 months?
The requirement is 12 months in a row outside New Zealand after the maximum stay is reached. Short trips taken while you were still working here are a different thing entirely. Because the calculation runs off your own travel and visa record, confirm it with INZ rather than estimating.
Can I come back on a different visa during the stand-down?
The stand-down governs the grant of another AEWV. Other categories apply their own criteria, and meeting them is a question about your circumstances — which is exactly the kind of assessment a licensed adviser is required for. Our guide to finding a licensed immigration adviser explains how to check that someone is entitled to give that advice.
Where does INZ publish this rule?
On the Accredited Employer Work Visa page, under the heading "Time required outside New Zealand". If a page you are reading elsewhere states a different number, check it against that heading before you rely on it.
