Losing Your Job on a New Zealand Work Visa
Your visa does not disappear the day your job ends. An Accredited Employer Work Visa authorises work in one named job, for one named employer, at one named location — so when that job ends, the visa remains valid but the work you are authorised to do has gone. What follows is a race to change the visa before it expires.
Quick Facts
| Does the visa cancel automatically? | No. It stays valid until its expiry date |
| Can you work elsewhere? | Not until INZ approves the change. The visa names one employer, job and location |
| What changes it | A variation of conditions, a job change application, or a new visa |
| Variation of conditions | NZ$325; 1.5 weeks average, 2 weeks for 80% (as published 20 August 2026) |
| New employer must have | Current accreditation and an approved Job Check covering the role |
| If the employer was exploiting you | The Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa is a separate product |
| Exploitation visa levy | Applicants are exempt from the immigration levy — as are their partners and dependent children |
| Recruitment costs | Employers must not pass recruitment costs on to workers |
| Who can advise you | A licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer. Not a website, and not your employer |
First: what actually happened to your visa
Nothing, yet. That is the single most important fact on this page.
An Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is granted for a period — often two or three years — and that period does not shrink because your employment ended. The visa is still valid. What you have lost is the thing the visa authorised you to do, because the visa permits work only in the job, for the employer, and at the location stated on it.
So the position on day one is:
- You are lawfully in New Zealand until your visa's expiry date.
- You cannot start work for a different employer until INZ approves a change.
- You cannot take a stopgap job, cash work or a second role. There is no second job on an AEWV.
- The clock that matters is your visa expiry date, not your last day of work.
Find your visa expiry date now, before anything else. It is on your eVisa and in your Immigration Online account. Every option below has to be completed before it.
Second: which situation are you in?
The options differ sharply depending on why the job ended. Three broad situations cover most cases.
| Situation | What is different about it |
|---|---|
| Redundancy, restructure, or the business closed | Ordinary job change process. Your conduct is not in question |
| Dismissal | Same immigration process; employment law questions run in parallel |
| You left because of exploitation | A separate visa exists for this. See below |
There is a fourth: the employer lost accreditation. That has its own consequences and its own INZ handling — see what happens when an employer loses accreditation.
Step 1: Confirm your visa's expiry date and conditions
Log in to your Immigration Online account and read the visa itself, not a summary of it. Note the expiry date, the employer named, the job named, and the location named. Those four items define what you may do and how long you have to change it.
Step 2: Find an employer who is already accredited
This is where most of the delay lives, and where the search is narrower than an ordinary job hunt. Your next employer must:
- Hold current accreditation, and
- Have an approved Job Check covering the role you would fill.
Accreditation is the employer's application, not yours: NZ$775 for standard accreditation covering up to five migrants, NZ$1,280 for high-volume, NZ$4,060 for triangular employment. It takes four days on average and 1.5 weeks for 80% of applications. A Job Check costs NZ$735, takes three days on average and two weeks for 80% of applications, and requires advertising for 14 or 21 days first unless an exemption applies.
An employer starting from zero is therefore weeks away, before your own application is even lodged. An already-accredited employer with a live Job Check is weeks closer. Check status before you invest time in an application — see how to check if an employer is accredited.
Step 3: Apply to change your visa before it expires
The route is a variation of conditions, a job change application, or a new AEWV. Which one fits depends on your circumstances, and that is a question for a licensed immigration adviser rather than a website.
What is general information:
- A variation of conditions modifies the restrictions on your current visa without changing its expiry date. Fee NZ$325. Supporting documents include a passport copy, an offer of employment or employment agreement, and the job token number for accredited-employer visas.
- A new AEWV is a fresh application from NZ$1,540, decided within eight weeks for 80% of applicants, with its own new expiry date.
- Applying before your current visa expires is what makes an interim visa possible. If your visa runs out while INZ is assessing the new application, INZ will normally grant an interim visa so you stay lawfully in the country. Since April 2025, time on an interim visa counts toward continuous stay and work experience.
Step 4: Get advice if the timeframe is tight
New Zealand regulates immigration advice. Anyone assessing your situation and telling you what to do must be a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer. That is not a formality — it is what separates real help from the operators who target people in exactly this position.
Check any licence before you pay anything. How to check an adviser's licence explains where the register is and how to read it.
If you were being exploited
New Zealand has a dedicated visa for migrant workers who leave an exploitative employer: the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa. It exists as a separate product precisely so that leaving does not mean losing your immigration status overnight.
What is verified about it:
- It is a distinct visa in INZ's product list, not a variation of the AEWV.
- Applicants are exempt from the immigration levy — the NZ$1,060 charge that dominates the cost of most work visas.
- Partners and dependent children of holders are also levy-exempt.
Two related rules are worth knowing whatever you decide. Employers must not pass recruitment costs on to workers — that obligation is part of accreditation. And INZ will decline an AEWV application where money was offered or promised to an employer in exchange for a job offer. If either happened to you, it is relevant.
The eligibility criteria, evidence and duration for the protection visa should be confirmed directly with INZ, and the decision about whether to use it is one to take with a licensed adviser or a lawyer. Our guide to migrant exploitation and the protection work visa covers what is published.
What you must not do
Do not start work for a new employer before INZ approves the change. Working outside your visa conditions is a breach, and breaching conditions is a ground for deportation liability. It also damages every future application you make.
Do not stay past your visa expiry date. If your visa expires, you are unlawfully in New Zealand. You cannot work or study, you lose access to publicly funded health services with limited exceptions, and you face detention and deportation. Staying unlawfully for 42 days or longer can trigger a ban on returning.
Do not pay anyone to speed up a decision. There is no priority processing. Nobody can move an application up the queue at any price, and the offer is a standard scam aimed at migrants under time pressure.
Do not assume your partner's or children's visas are unaffected. Their visas are usually tied to yours. If you hold a partner or children's visas linked to your work visa, their position changes when yours does — see bringing family on a work visa and dependent children of work visa holders.
What your family's visas depend on
A Partner of a Worker Work Visa lasts the same length as the supporting partner's eligible work visa. A Dependent Child Student Visa expires with the parent's visa. Neither survives independently if the visa they hang off ends.
That is a reason to move quickly rather than a reason to panic: the fix for the family's status is generally the same fix as for yours. It is also a reason to be precise about dates when you get advice, because several expiry dates are now in play at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to my visa if I lose my job in New Zealand?
The visa stays valid until its expiry date. What ends is your authorisation to work, because an AEWV permits work only in the job, for the employer, and at the location named on it. You need INZ approval before working anywhere else.
How long do I have to find a new job on an AEWV?
Your deadline is the expiry date on your visa, because that is when lawful status ends unless a new application is on foot. There is no separate published grace period that this site can confirm, so treat the expiry date as the deadline and get advice on your own timeframe from a licensed immigration adviser.
Can I work anywhere while I look for a new job?
No. The visa names one employer, one job and one location, and no second job is permitted. Any other work is unauthorised and is a breach of conditions.
Was I made redundant — do I get anything from immigration?
Redundancy is an employment matter, not an immigration one. INZ's process is the same whether the job ended by redundancy, dismissal or closure. What differs is whether an exploitation route is relevant, which turns on the employer's conduct rather than on how the job ended.
What is the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa?
A separate visa for migrant workers leaving an exploitative employer. Applicants are exempt from the immigration levy, as are their partners and dependent children. Eligibility and duration should be confirmed with INZ, and whether it applies to you is a question for a licensed adviser.
Can I switch to a visitor visa while I look for work?
A visitor visa does not permit work in New Zealand, although visitor visas applied for on or after 27 January 2025 allow remote work for an overseas employer. Whether changing category is available to you depends on your circumstances — see changing from a visitor visa to another visa for how the categories interact, and get advice before relying on it.
Does my partner lose their work rights if I lose my job?
A Partner of a Worker Work Visa lasts as long as the supporting partner's eligible work visa. It is tied to yours, so changes to your status matter to theirs. Get advice on both at the same time rather than sequentially.
Will this count against me in a future application?
Losing a job is not misconduct and is not a character issue. Working without authorisation, or staying past your visa expiry, is a different matter and does affect future applications.
