Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) welcomes the announcement today of changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) system from January 2025. 

“This is excellent news for the industry. Fixing parts of the AEWV scheme is something we have advocated hard for, and it’s positive to see the government being responsive to tourism business needs,” TIA Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram says. 

TIA notes particularly the removal of the median wage requirement, which had been causing distortions in how much people are being paid. In some cases, this was leading to overseas workers being paid more than Kiwis for the same jobs. 

“This change enables a more level playing field for businesses and employees in how they package up employee remuneration and benefits, and how they recognise individuals,” Ms Ingram says. 

It’s also positive to see changes to the seasonal pathways – this will make it easier to get skilled staff and better recognises their seasonal experience from the international talent pool, for example, those in the ski sector, Ms Ingram said. 

Another win is the increase in the visa duration for level 4 and 5 roles. This has changed from two to three years, which offers more stability for both workers and employers. 

Other welcome changes will be improvements for low-risk employer job checking, lower work experience threshold for some applicants, and moves to improve processing times and greater streamlining overall. 

The changes will be implemented in four different stages over the course of 2025, beginning in January. This is a critical issue for the industry, and this is a welcome announcement just before Christmas. 

“We look forward to hearing further details and continuing to work with Immigration New Zealand in the New Year,” Ms Ingram says.

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