AEWV Conditions: What You Can and Cannot Do in New Zealand
An Accredited Employer Work Visa authorises one job, for one employer, in one location. No second job. No self-employment. No horticulture or viticulture crop work, and no work as foreign crew on a fishing vessel. Study is capped at three months in any 12-month period, plus any study your employment requires.
Quick Facts
| Work rights | Closed — limited to the job, employer and location stated on the visa |
| Second job | Not allowed |
| Self-employment | Not allowed. The job offer cannot be for self-employed work |
| Minimum hours | The job must guarantee at least 30 hours a week |
| Pay | Market rate for the occupation, with the adult minimum wage as the floor |
| Piece rates, commission, bonuses | Must be paid in addition to the guaranteed hourly rate |
| Study | Up to 3 months in any 12-month period, plus study required by the employment |
| Excluded work | Crop planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing in horticulture and viticulture; foreign fishing crew |
| Changing anything | Requires a variation of conditions, a job change application, or a new visa |
| Cost to change conditions | Variation of conditions NZ$325 |
Conditions as published by INZ, August 2026. Your own visa letter is the authoritative statement of what you are permitted to do.
Read your visa, not a summary
Every Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) states three things: the employer, the job, and the location. Those three lines are the visa. Anything outside them is unauthorised work, and unauthorised work is a breach of visa conditions — one of the grounds on which a person becomes liable for deportation.
This is what people mean when they call the AEWV a "closed" work visa. It attaches you to a named employer. It is the opposite of an open work visa, which lets the holder work for any employer.
What the visa allows
- Work in the job named on your visa, for the employer named on your visa, at the location named on your visa.
- Work the hours your employment agreement provides for, with a guaranteed minimum of at least 30 hours a week.
- Study for up to three months in any 12-month period, plus any study your employment requires.
- Travel in and out of New Zealand, subject to the travel conditions on your visa.
- Apply to vary your conditions, or to change job, employer or location, through the correct process.
What the visa does not allow
No second job
You cannot work a second job on an AEWV. This is absolute, and it applies regardless of how few hours the second job involves, whether it is paid in cash, or whether the second employer is also accredited. If more work is genuinely needed, the route is a variation of conditions — not an informal arrangement.
No self-employment
The job offer supporting an AEWV cannot be for self-employed work. You are being sponsored into an employment relationship with an accredited employer. Contracting through your own company, freelancing on the side, or running a business alongside the job all fall outside what the visa authorises.
New Zealand's rules on this tightened elsewhere too. From 20 April 2026, holders of open work visas must work under an employment agreement or a contract for services and cannot sole-trade, own or operate a business, or employ others. The AEWV was already narrower than that.
No crop work in horticulture or viticulture
An AEWV job offer cannot be for planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing crops in the horticulture or viticulture industries. That work is served by separate products: the Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited Visa for citizens of 13 Pacific countries, and the seasonal visas introduced in December 2025. Seasonal work visas compared sets out which route covers which industry.
No work as foreign crew on a fishing vessel
The job offer cannot be for foreign crew of fishing vessels. That work sits under the separate Fishing Crew Work Visa.
No paying for a job offer
INZ will decline an application where you, or an agent acting for you, offered or promised money to the employer in exchange for the job offer. Employers are also prohibited from passing recruitment costs on to workers. If you are being asked to pay for a job, that is a warning sign about the offer itself — see how to tell if a New Zealand job offer is real.
Pay conditions people misread
Two rules do more work than their length suggests.
The job must guarantee at least 30 hours a week. Guaranteed means guaranteed in the employment agreement. A roster that usually reaches 30 hours is not the same thing, and INZ assesses the agreement.
Piece rates, commission and bonuses must be paid in addition to the guaranteed hourly rate. They cannot be counted toward it. A picking rate or a sales commission is money on top; it does not fill a gap between the hourly rate paid and the hourly rate promised.
On the rate itself: since 10 March 2025 the test has been the market rate for the occupation — what a New Zealander or resident would be paid for the same work in the same region — with the adult minimum wage as the floor. The immigration median wage is no longer the AEWV pay test, although it still sets thresholds for residence pathways, partner support and dependent children. See AEWV pay and wage requirements.
Study on an AEWV
You may study for up to three months in any 12-month period, plus any study that your employment requires — for example a certification your employer needs you to hold.
Anything beyond that is a student visa question. Full-time study, a longer qualification, or a course that would displace your work all sit outside the condition. Our student visa guide covers the alternatives.
The three-month allowance is a common source of confusion because the same figure appears on several visas. It is per 12-month period, not per visa.
Changing your conditions
Nothing on this page is permanent. What it requires is a process rather than a conversation with your employer.
| What you want to change | What it needs | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Employer, job or location | Variation of conditions, a job change application, or a new visa | NZ$325 for a variation of conditions |
| Study beyond 3 months in 12 | A student visa, or a variation where the study is employment-related | Varies |
| Adding a second job | Not available as a condition — the job change process applies instead | — |
A variation of conditions modifies restrictions on your current visa without changing its expiry date. It must be applied for before the current visa expires. The new employer must hold current accreditation and a Job Check covering the role. Processing runs at 1.5 weeks on average and two weeks for 80% of applications (as published 20 August 2026).
Changing employers on an AEWV walks through which route applies and — the part that matters most — when you may lawfully start the new role.
What breaching conditions means
Working outside your visa conditions is not a paperwork problem. INZ lists breaching visa conditions among the grounds for deportation liability, alongside staying past your visa expiry and providing false or misleading information. The example INZ itself gives is working when you only hold a visitor visa.
The practical consequences reach further than the visa: unauthorised work is not covered by the protections attached to a compliant employment relationship, and it complicates every future application.
If you believe you are being pushed to work outside your conditions — extra hours off the books, a different site, a different employer, work in an excluded industry — that is a migrant exploitation issue, not a technicality. New Zealand has a dedicated protection visa for workers in that position: see migrant exploitation and the protection work visa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I work a second job on an AEWV?
No. The visa authorises work in one job, for one employer, at one location. A second job is unauthorised work regardless of the hours involved. The only lawful route to different or additional work is a variation of conditions, a job change application, or a new visa.
Can I be self-employed on an AEWV?
No. The job offer supporting the visa cannot be for self-employed work, and running a business or contracting on the side falls outside what the visa authorises.
Can I study on an AEWV?
Yes, for up to three months in any 12-month period, plus any study your employment requires. Longer or full-time study needs a student visa.
Can I do fruit picking on an AEWV?
No. An AEWV job offer cannot be for planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing crops in horticulture or viticulture. Those industries are served by the RSE scheme and the seasonal visas that opened in December 2025.
What happens if I change jobs without telling immigration?
You would be working outside your visa conditions, which is a breach and a ground for deportation liability. The change has to be approved before you start the new role. Changing employers on an AEWV explains the timing.
Can my partner work if I hold an AEWV?
Possibly, through a separate visa in their own name. The Partner of a Worker Work Visa carries open work rights, but eligibility depends on what the supporting partner earns and what job they hold. See bringing family on a work visa for the thresholds.
Does my visa let me work in a different city for the same employer?
Location is one of the three things stated on the visa, so a move to a different location generally needs the conditions varied. Multi-location roles have to be advertised in each location at the Job Check stage, which is why the location on the visa is specific rather than national.
