New Zealand First will end the Accredited Employer Work Visa farce and replace it with a shortage-led Skilled Work Visa.
New Zealand needs skilled migrants where New Zealanders cannot reasonably fill the job. It does not need a work-visa system that has become a general recruitment channel for routine roles with little connection to a genuine skills shortage.
The policy will put New Zealand workers first, lift confidence in the immigration system, protect migrant workers from exploitation, and preserve a clear route for employers who genuinely cannot find critical skills here.
Entry will be tied to a named occupation, region, and demonstrated need, not merely to an employer obtaining accreditation.
Immigration must serve New Zealand’s economic interests, fill identifiable shortages, and complement our workforce, not become a general source of labour for ordinary jobs. Nor be used as a back door to bring in friends and family or exploit the system.
New Zealand has approximately 171,000 unemployed people and an underutilisation rate of 13.8%. There will still be genuine shortages in particular occupations and regions, but employers seeking migrant workers for routine roles should have to prove that they have made a serious effort to employ or train New Zealanders.
New Zealand First will:
- Scrap and replace the Accredited Employer Working Visa
- Limit access to genuine shortages
- End routine retail access
- Apply a New Zealand worker safeguard
- Restore a proper wage floor
- Require real domestic recruitment
- Strengthen employer accreditation
- Target enforcement where risk is highest
- Publish meaningful transparency data
- Protect workers without rewarding bad sponsors
If a New Zealander can reasonably be trained to do the job, then train them. If the shortage is real, prove it. If the skill is critical, New Zealand will welcome it.
But if the job is routine, the evidence is fiction, and the so-called shortage can be solved by offering a proper wage, the answer will be no.
We are a country with an immigration system, not an international labour-hire agency with a flag.
New Zealanders must come first. End of story.
