Working in New Zealand on an AEWV: a guide for applicants in Uganda

First, what the AEWV is

Most people recruited from overseas land in New Zealand on one visa: the Accredited Employer Work Visa, or AEWV. It's temporary, and it only exists once a job is waiting for you.

Nothing about the order is negotiable. First an accredited employer makes you an offer. Then it emails you the link that opens the online application, and without that link there is no application to make. The position itself must run for 30 hours a week or longer, paid at the going rate for that work and never beneath a legal minimum such as the national minimum wage.

Three kinds of work sit outside the AEWV: working for yourself, crewing foreign fishing boats, and horticulture or viticulture crop work (planting, maintaining, harvesting and packing).

Three gates every application passes through

An AEWV goes through three gates, always taken in the same order.

1. The employer's gate. Immigration New Zealand must have accredited the business before anything else can happen.
2. The job's gate. INZ is shown that wages and conditions comply with the rules and, when they call for it, that New Zealanders were offered the position first. Once approved, a job check stays valid for 6 months.
3. Your gate. When the first two are done, the employer emails you a personal "job token" link. Through it you lodge your application and attach proof of your skills, English, health and character.

Do you have the skills and experience?

The offer from an accredited employer with an approved job check is only half of it. You must also demonstrate your skills through any one of the following:

• 2 years or more of work experience relevant to the role;
• a qualification at level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (NZQCF); or
• a bachelor's degree or above, in whatever subject.

Overseas awards below bachelor's level, a UNEB or DIT certificate for instance, count only after NZQA has carried out an International Qualification Assessment (IQA). A few workers don't have to meet the skills test at all: those in Green List roles, in jobs that require occupational registration (electrical and plumbing work among them) and in roles paying NZD 67.12 per hour or higher (as of October 2026, official page).

The vacancies are here: sponsored jobs in New Zealand.

Proving your English, if the job calls for it

Whether you must prove English depends on how the job is classified, not on who you are. A role at skill level 1 or 2 (ANZSCO or the NOL) asks for nothing. A role at skill level 3, 4 or 5 does, and the lowest accepted results are (as of October 2026, official page):

The test is taken in person, and your result can't be more than 2 years old when you submit.

Health and police paperwork

Medicals. If you will stay more than 6 months and you're a citizen of, or have lately lived in, a country that doesn't have a low rate of tuberculosis (TB), you'll need a chest X-ray. A medical or X-ray result is only usable when it is under 3 months old at the moment INZ receives it.

Police clearance. This is for anyone aged 17 or older who will spend 24 months or more in New Zealand altogether. You provide a certificate from each country you hold citizenship of, plus one for every country where you spent over 5 years after turning 17. Each must be under 6 months old. Citizens of Uganda use an Interpol police clearance certificate from Uganda.

The route from search to start date

1. Search and apply for roles with accredited employers.
2. Interview, usually by video call from Kampala or elsewhere in Uganda, and say yes to an offer that suits you.
3. Give the employer time to finish its accreditation and then the job check for your position.
4. Watch for your job token by email. It is the key to your application.
5. Attach your evidence: passport, qualifications or work history, English results where the job needs them, police certificates, medicals and certified translations.
6. Pay the fee and submit, all online.
7. Wait for the decision. With the visa granted, you resign, buy the ticket and start work.

Speed, cost, limits and changing employer

• Speed. INZ decides 80% of applications in 5.5 weeks or less (as of October 2026, official page). The count starts the day you apply, so the employer's accreditation and job check, and your own document gathering, all come on top.
• Cost. The fee is NZD 1,540 or more (as of October 2026, official page), varying with your country. The official page calculates your figure.
• How long you can stay. A total of 5 years in most roles. Where the role sits at ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5, expect 3 years, apart from roles such as Green List ones or those paying NZD 52.50 an hour or above (AEWV time limits). After you reach a limit, you must be outside New Zealand for 12 months before a new AEWV can be approved.
• Conditions. The visa ties you to a single approved employer and a single approved job, so no second job. Study is allowed for as many as 3 months in any 12.
• Changing job. A different employer, role or place of work needs a variation of conditions or a Job Change. Both require an accredited employer and a new job check. A Job Change leaves the visa expiry date where it was (changing visa conditions).

Your partner and children

The AEWV doesn't cover your family. Each of them lodges a visa application of their own, and the options open to them depend on your hourly rate and your job (as of October 2026, official page):

• NZD 52.50 an hour or more: your partner can apply for a work visa on the strength of your job, and your dependent children can each apply for a visa.
• NZD 28.00 an hour or more, in a role at ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3: your partner can apply for the Partner of a Worker Work Visa.
• Less than NZD 28.00 an hour: a visitor visa is the only choice for your partner.
• Visas for children (child visitor or dependent child student): your annual income must reach NZD 58,240 or more. When you and your partner both hold an AEWV, your incomes may be combined.

There are exceptions, Green List roles included, so test the official page against your own case.

Getting from the AEWV to residence

The AEWV isn't a residence visa, but it can be a stepping stone (as of October 2026, official page).

• Green List. A Tier 1 role qualifies for the Straight to Residence Visa. A Tier 2 role leads to the Work to Residence Visa once you have worked full time in it in New Zealand for 24 months (Green List pathway).
• Skilled Migrant Category (SMC). This resident visa suits people aged 55 or under and has three pathways: points, skilled work experience, and trades and technicians (SMC Resident Visa).

Residence settings get reviewed from time to time, so confirm what's current before you plan around them.

What to organise at home in Uganda

INZ holds every applicant to the same rules. This is how they play out if you're applying from Uganda.

• Passport. On the day you intend to leave New Zealand it should still be valid for 3 months or longer.
• Police clearance. Required if you're 17 or older and will be in New Zealand for 24 months or more altogether. Ugandan citizens supply an Interpol police clearance certificate from Uganda. You also need one for any other nationality you hold, and for each country you lived in for more than 5 years after turning 17. Every certificate must be under 6 months old at lodging, and INZ expects the certificate, not the receipt for it. The INZ police certificate tool goes through the process country by country.
• Proving what you've done. INZ won't take a CV as evidence by itself. What persuades it is reference letters, payslips or tax records showing the work, the dates and someone who can vouch for you.
• Qualifications. A UNEB or DIT award, like any overseas qualification below bachelor's level, is counted only after an NZQA International Qualification Assessment (IQA).
• Medicals. Should INZ ask for a medical or chest X-ray, the result has to be less than 3 months old once INZ has it.
• Translations. English-language papers rarely need anything. Whatever is in another language, police and medical certificates included, must be translated by a certified translator; INZ turns down translations done by you, your relatives or your own immigration adviser (INZ translation rules).

Timing matters. Police certificates and medicals lapse, so order them when your employer is close to sending the job token, not many months in advance. The complete list is on the AEWV page.

Pitfalls and fraudsters

New Zealand faces the same fraud and gives the same advice: if a person demands payment before they will "secure" a job or visa, walk away.

• Jobs can't be bought. New Zealand employers and agents are forbidden from charging you for a job or from making you pay their recruitment costs, whether directly or via a third party.
• Paying for an offer gets the visa declined. If INZ concludes that you or your agent offered or promised the employer money in return for the offer, it declines the AEWV.
• INZ wants its application fee, nothing else. Fees for the visa are never requested by bank transfer.
• Giving advice is regulated. Immigration advice may come only from an adviser licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority, or from an exempt person (INZ on immigration advice). Applying alone is your right.
• Why applications fail: a CV offered in place of proof of the work; police certificates more than 6 months old; untranslated documents; and a job with an employer that isn't accredited or whose job check was never approved.

For more, see INZ's page on how to spot immigration scams.

Frequently asked questions

Could I get an AEWV before finding a job?

No. The offer has to come first, from an accredited employer with an approved job check. Your job token, the link that starts the application, follows by email.

How much work experience is expected?

Typically 2 years or more in relevant work, or a qualification at NZQCF level 4 or higher. A few roles need neither, such as Green List roles and very highly paid jobs.

Do I have to sit IELTS or PTE?

Only if the job is classed at ANZSCO skill level 3, 4 or 5. In that case IELTS 4.0 overall, PTE Academic 29 or the equivalent on another accepted test is needed (as of October 2026), and the test must be less than 2 years old when you apply.

Which police certificate does New Zealand want from a Ugandan citizen?

An Interpol police clearance certificate from Uganda, provided you are 17 or older and will spend 24 months or more in New Zealand altogether. It has to be under 6 months old when you apply. For other countries, use the INZ police certificate tool.

How long does INZ take to decide?

As of October 2026, INZ decides 80% of applications within 5.5 weeks. Check the AEWV page for the current figure.

For how long can I remain?

In most roles, 5 years in total; in most roles at ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5, 3 years. Reaching the limit means 12 months outside New Zealand before another AEWV.

Is my partner allowed to work?

Possibly, depending on your job and pay. They may qualify for a Partner of a Worker Work Visa if you earn NZD 52.50 an hour or more, or NZD 28.00 an hour or more in a role at ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3.

Will New Zealand accept my Ugandan nursing or trade registration?

Not automatically. Nurses have to register with New Zealand's nursing regulator, and certain trades, such as electrical and plumbing work, need occupational registration in New Zealand. The job advert states what the employer requires.

Is it legal for an employer to charge me for the job?

No. New Zealand prohibits job fees and prohibits passing recruitment costs on to workers. If an offer was paid for, the visa is declined.