If you hire skilled migrants to fill labour shortages in your business, you’ll know that the employer accreditation renewal process is now underway.
With many employers beginning the process with Immigration New Zealand, the EMA and its Member Rewards and strategic partner Malcolm Pacific Immigration have observed some fishhooks in the process.
To help ensure a smoother accreditation renewal experience, we have identified three main areas that seem to be causing issues:
- Employers haven’t met their obligations for renewal.
- Employers have difficulty in providing evidence of their financial viability.
- Applications being delayed because not all the required evidence has been submitted.
Meeting your Employer Obligations
When you initially went through the accreditation process, you were required to complete a series of actions as an accredited employer. As part of the reaccreditation process, you are now required to demonstrate (with evidence) that you have completed these actions.
The most problematic required actions seem to be the completion of the Employment NZ Modules (for both migrants and staff making recruitment decisions about Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) holders), and the settlement support activities.
Unfortunately, some employers have not kept the necessary records, or staff turnover means that it’s unclear whether these actions were completed or not.
If your team or migrant workers haven’t completed the necessary Employment NZ modules, or not every migrant worker has received settlement support information from you, there is still an opportunity to rectify this before applying for accreditation renewal.
But you will have to keep records that you have completed these actions, as well as provide an explanation as to why these actions were not completed earlier, when you apply for your renewal.
If you do need any additional support with paperwork or would like to undertake a stock take of what has and hasn’t been done, Malcolm Pacific Immigration has the expertise to support you here.
Best practice would be to review your records four to six months ahead of the expiry of your migrant workers’ AEWV accreditation so that you have the opportunity to take the necessary steps to rectify any issues ahead of lodgement.
Financial Viability
Another area that some employers are confronting in the accreditation renewal process is demonstrating that their business is financially viable.
We know that this can be particularly challenging in the current economic environment, where many businesses will not have achieved the financial performance that they expected when they obtained their initial AEWV accreditation.
Alternatively, the timing of the reaccreditation process might mean that the financial reports for the financial year have yet to be completed.
There are four options available to demonstrate your financial viability, and you will be required to demonstrate evidence that you have met one of these options:
- Your business has not made a loss over the past 24 months.
- You’ve had positive cashflow each month over the past six months.
- You have enough capital or investments to ensure viability.
- You have a credible plan to ensure viability over the next two years.
It should be noted that a few businesses are exempt from the requirement to document financial viability.
Submitting the Required Evidence
The final issue that many employers are facing is failing to provide all the evidence required when they apply for reaccreditation.
There is a large volume of applications “stuck” in the system because not all the evidence has been supplied. This not only impacts on the employer’s application but also causes delays throughout the system because it creates a bottleneck.
Failing to provide all the required information when you submit your application will slow your reaccreditation significantly. That is why it is important you upload evidence as prompted on the renewal application form so you can assure a smooth reaccreditation process.
Malcolm Pacific Immigration have checklists, personalised service and resources available to support employers through the process if you need help.
Immigration NZ (INZ) recommends applying at least six weeks before the expiry date of your accreditation. Timing your application is important because the renewal date will be effective from the date of decision by INZ, not 12 or 24 months from the current expiry date. However, it is recommended you commence this process at least three months in advance to ensure you have all the required evidence or have time to rectify any non-compliance issues.
You can also expect processing delays at INZ as more renewal applications are lodged. Most businesses, however, will qualify for “interim accreditation”, which can be granted if the renewal application is not decided before accreditation expires.
If you have lodged your application, INZ will email you two weeks before your accreditation expiry date confirming interim accreditation has been granted. If you don’t receive this email, it is important you follow-up with INZ. With interim accreditation, you can:
- Apply for new job checks.
- Send a job token to an employee, so they can apply for an AEWV.
Keeping your accreditation valid is a good investment for your business for a number of reasons: it helps you retain current migrant workers longer, if they qualify to extend work visas; it allows you to recruit new migrant workers; and it means you can support your migrant workers who want to apply for residence and need employment for that application – it is mandatory that your business is accredited when they apply.
If you are considering not renewing, we recommend that you check whether anyone in your business may be negatively impacted by that decision. For example, you might have a migrant worker planning to apply for residence that you didn’t know about. Without accreditation, migrant workers’ (and their families’) future in New Zealand may come to an unexpected end.
If you are struggling with the process, the EMA Advocacy team is consistently in touch with INZ. The Advocacy team value hearing feedback about your experiences, so they can help you find solutions. If you are having problems, please reach out. You can contact the team here.
The Malcolm Pacific Immigration team can also help with any technical queries, provide support or answer questions you might have. And, as an EMA Member, you receive Member benefits! To find out more you can contact them here.
