Good news. You can now stay longer in NZ. Immigration New Zealand has been making a lot of changes lately to visa settings. The Minister of Immigration announced changes to both SMC resident visa and Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). Read about the changes to SMC resident here. For changes to AEWV, keep reading. If you would rather watch the update, click this link.
The AEWV is New Zealand main temporary work visa. Every information you need to know about AEWV is here. The only slight change is the good news. Currently, you can stay in NZ up to 3 years and nothing more with AEWV, but all that is about to change from Nov 2023,
Quoting the announcement
The Government is introducing a maximum continuous stay of 5 years on an AEWV, for anyone who is unable to demonstrate that they are on a pathway to residence. People will need to spend 12 months outside of NZ to be eligible to apply for a further AEWV.
INZ News
This means that after 5 years on an AEWV you will need to leave New Zealand for at least 12 months. That is good news however currently, the maximum length of time on an AEWV is 3 years so, to align with the introduction of the 5-year maximum continuous stay for AEWV holders, they have decided to extend the maximum duration of an AEWV from 3 years to 5 years.
Lastly note that this change applies to new visa applications. If you are an existing AEWV holder with a 3-year visa, you will be able to apply for another AEWV that will allow you stay in NZ for up to 5 years in total.
In summary, how long you can stay on AEWV has been extended from 3 to 5 years.
FANTASTIC NEWS.
With this, you should have enough time to gain the required NZ work experience needed to apply for any residence visa of choice like the SMC I talked about, or
The other skilled residence pathway visas like the
- Green list pathway
- Straight to residence visa
- Work to residence visa
Have any questions, ask in the comment section.
