Employing Overseas Workers In New Zealand

With unemployment at an all time low, New Zealand businesses today rely more and more on the employment of skilled overseas workers to fill the labour shortage gap. Workers employing foreign workers can have advantages for your business. Apart from filling vacancies, workers from other countries can bring different experiences and skills to a job, as well as new ideas and networks.

However, if an employer is wanting to offer employment to a foreign worker, it must check that they are legally able to work in New Zealand.

Citizens of New Zealand (including the Cooks Islands, Niue and Tokelau) and Australia do not need a work permit to legally work in New Zealand.

Residents of New Zealand and Australia also do not need a work permit. However, everyone else does.

Most migrants entitled to work in New Zealand will have a New Zealand Work Permit or Residence Permit in their passport.

Some may have electronic permits and they will be able to produce for their prospective employer a print out of a letter from the Immigration Service. Employers can check the letter by asking the person to show their status on their immigration homepage, or by contacting the Immigration Service.

Many foreign students are allowed to work up to 20 hours per week. Those holding a student permit, and who are entitled to work in New Zealand, will have their work conditions noted in their permit or they may have a letter from the Immigration Service called a ‘Variation of Conditions’ showing their eligibility to work.

Employers must check the expiry date of the permit and the conditions in the permit.

Many permits that are granted by the Immigration Service only allow a migrant to work for a named employer in a certain location, or for a restricted number of hours. If the worker is looking to change employers or location they must seek a new immigration permit from the Immigration Service with new permit conditions.

If a prospective worker does not have a permit that is legitimate for a job vacancy, they may be able to get one with support from the organisation seeking to employ them. There are a number of different work permits available. If an employer finds they often need to rely on foreign workers, it may also want to consider becoming an Accredited Employer so that it can offer employment to overseas workers more quickly and easily.

If an employer employs someone who is not legally eligible to work in New Zealand, it is committing a criminal offence under the Immigration Act 1987. Changes are being proposed to the Immigration Act 1987 that will put even more of the onus on employers to ensure overseas workers are entitled to work for them legally.

The complexity of New Zealand’s immigration laws are daunting. With the need to keep current with the frequent legislative changes that are being made, it is important to obtain the right advice. Through its Immigration Team, Brookfields offers a cost effective immigration service covering all aspects of immigration requirements.

See Brookfields Immigration for an outline of our specialist immigration legal expertise.

For more information, please contact:

Ian McCombe
Partner
t: +64 9 979 2159
e: Ian McCombe

Last updated: 3 April 2007

This article is intended to be brief in nature and should be used for information only. It should not be relied on as legal advice.