In New Zealand accredited employers are no longer permitted to use 90-day trial periods in employment agreements when recruiting persons on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) beginning October 29.
On December 11, 2023, the New Zealand Government announced its intention to extend 90-day trial periods to all employers, but this does not apply to accredited employers and those on the AEWV. This legislation does not include accredited employers, hence this will not apply to accredited employers and those on the AEWV.
Once your company in New Zealand has sent you a letter of employment offer, carefully review the terms of the agreement. Employers who put a trial term in their employment contracts risk having their certification revoked. Breach detection may be discovered during the Job Check procedure or through post-decision and re-accreditation checks after the fact.
Regardless of the submission date, an employer’s AEWV Job Check application will be rejected as of October 29 if it contains an employment agreement with a trial term. Alternatively, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) may seek updated information. Job checks that were filed before October 29, 2023 but were assessed on or after that date are included in this.
The 90-day trial rule will not apply to applications based on already-approved Job Checks, or migrants who already hold, or have applied for, an AEWV based on a job check that was approved before 29 October 2023.
This is meant to motivate approved firms to treat migrant workers properly and to fill positions only when there is a real demand for labor or a talent shortage. A trial term cannot be included in employment agreements that are sent with job check applications in the future.
