New Zealand Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV): 2025-2026 Changes for Sri Lankan Workers

New Zealand's Accredited Employer Work Visa is the main route for Sri Lankan workers to live and work in New Zealand on a job offer from a recognised employer. On 10 March 2025, the New Zealand government made one of the most significant changes to the AEWV since it launched: the median-wage pay floor was removed entirely. Pay requirements shifted to a 'market rate' standard, work experience was cut from 3 years to 2, and partner support thresholds were redefined. If you have a New Zealand job offer or are planning to apply, here is exactly what changed and what you need to budget for.

What the AEWV Is (and the Accredited Employer Requirement)

The Accredited Employer Work Visa is New Zealand's primary employer-sponsored work visa. It replaced several older work visa categories and consolidated them into a single scheme managed by Immigration New Zealand. The fundamental premise is straightforward: a New Zealand employer hires you for a specific role, and that employer must hold formal accreditation from Immigration New Zealand before you can use them as a sponsor.

Accreditation is not a rubber stamp. Immigration New Zealand assesses the employer's business legitimacy, their history of compliance with employment law, and whether they are genuinely attempting to hire locally before turning overseas. Employers hold either standard accreditation or high-volume accreditation depending on the number of migrant workers they sponsor. As a Sri Lankan applicant, verifying that your prospective employer is currently accredited — not simply claiming to be — is a non-negotiable first step before you invest time and money in an application.

You can check whether an employer is accredited on the Immigration New Zealand website. Be aware that accreditation has to be renewed, and an employer who was accredited six months ago may not be accredited today. Always confirm current accreditation status directly with Immigration New Zealand, not just through the employer's word or their recruitment agent's assurance.

The Big 2025 Change: Median-Wage Requirement Removed

Before 10 March 2025, the AEWV required that your pay be at or above the New Zealand median wage. This was a firm numerical threshold that effectively shut out lower-skilled and lower-paid roles from the AEWV pathway. On 10 March 2025, Immigration New Zealand removed this requirement entirely. The median wage is no longer the primary pay floor for AEWV applicants.

This was a deliberate liberalisation. The government recognised that the median-wage floor was creating labour shortages in sectors such as hospitality, agriculture, and construction where market wages are real and legitimate but happen to sit below the statistical median. Removing it allows a much wider range of roles to qualify for the AEWV, which is significant for Sri Lankan workers in trades, manufacturing, care, and hospitality who previously could not access the scheme.

However, removing the median wage as a floor does not mean pay is unregulated. A new standard replaced it, and it applies to every AEWV application lodged from 10 March 2025 onwards.

Pay Now: Market Rate Plus Above Minimum Wage

From 10 March 2025, AEWV pay must satisfy two conditions simultaneously. First, your pay must be at or above the current adult minimum wage in New Zealand. Second, your pay must be at the market rate for the role — meaning what a New Zealand worker would be paid for the same job, in the same region, with comparable skills and experience. Both conditions must be met; meeting only one is not sufficient.

The market rate standard is more nuanced than a single number, which is both its strength and its complexity. Immigration New Zealand assesses whether your offered pay is consistent with what employers genuinely pay New Zealanders for that role in that location. This means a wage that is acceptable for a chef in Christchurch may differ from what is acceptable for the same role in Auckland. Your employer's job offer letter and the salary evidence they provide to Immigration New Zealand need to reflect real regional pay norms, not a figure constructed to just clear a threshold.

For Sri Lankan applicants, the practical implication is that you need to understand the pay landscape for your specific role and region in New Zealand. Resources such as the New Zealand government's Occupation Outlook database and Trade Me Jobs salary insights can help you verify whether the wage in your job offer is genuinely at market rate. If your offer looks low relative to market norms, it creates risk — both for your application and for your position once you arrive.

Why the Median Wage Still Matters: Partner Support Thresholds

Although the median wage was removed as the primary AEWV pay floor, it did not disappear from the scheme entirely. The 2026 median wage — NZD 35.00 per hour from 9 March 2026, based on June 2025 Statistics New Zealand data — continues to anchor the thresholds that determine whether your partner can obtain an open work visa while you are in New Zealand on your AEWV.

Partner support is a significant benefit of the AEWV for Sri Lankan families. If you earn above the applicable wage threshold for your skill level, your partner can apply for an open work visa that allows them to work for any employer in New Zealand — not just a specific one. This dramatically improves the economic situation of a two-adult household and is one of the reasons Sri Lankan families prioritise AEWV pathways over visitor arrangements.

The thresholds are tied to the ANZSCO or New Zealand Occupation List skill level of your role, not just your nominal pay rate. Confirm your role's skill level classification with your employer or a licensed immigration adviser before assuming which threshold applies to you. The difference between a skill level 3 and skill level 4 classification can determine whether your partner qualifies for an open work visa at all.

Partner Support Wage Thresholds at a Glance

Work Experience Reduced to 2 Years

Before 10 March 2025, the AEWV required applicants to demonstrate at least 3 years of relevant work experience in the occupation they were being hired for. From 10 March 2025, this was reduced to 2 years. This is a meaningful change for Sri Lankan workers who have been in the workforce for a shorter period — particularly those who completed a diploma or vocational qualification and moved into employment in their mid-twenties.

The 2-year experience requirement applies to the role you are being hired for, not general work experience. Immigration New Zealand expects the experience to be relevant and verifiable. For Sri Lankan applicants, this means gathering employment reference letters, payslips, employer certification letters, and any professional registration documents from your Sri Lankan or other overseas work history. Documents in Sinhala or Tamil should be accompanied by certified English translations. Do not underestimate the documentation effort — experience that is genuine but poorly evidenced can still create delays or refusals.

Maximum Stay: 5 Years (Skill 1-3) or 3 Years (Skill 4-5)

The AEWV is not an open-ended visa — it has a maximum continuous stay period that depends on your role's skill level. For roles at ANZSCO or New Zealand Occupation List skill levels 1, 2, or 3, the maximum continuous stay is 5 years. For roles at skill levels 4 or 5, the maximum continuous stay is 3 years.

These limits exist to ensure the AEWV functions as a temporary work pathway rather than a de facto permanent residency route for lower-skilled migration. For higher-skilled Sri Lankan workers in occupations at level 1-3 — engineering, healthcare, IT, management, skilled trades — the 5-year window provides a meaningful runway to accumulate New Zealand work experience, qualify under residency criteria, and potentially apply for permanent residency before the visa ceiling is reached.

For workers in level 4-5 roles, the 3-year maximum is tighter. If your intention is to build a longer-term life in New Zealand, the skill level of your initial AEWV role matters significantly. Some Sri Lankan workers use the 3-year period to upskill, gain New Zealand qualifications, and transition into higher-skilled roles that open a longer pathway. This is a legitimate strategy, but it requires deliberate planning from day one of your AEWV.

English Test: Only for Skill Level 4 and 5 Roles

An English language test is required for AEWV applicants whose role is at ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5. For roles at skill levels 1, 2, or 3, there is no English language test requirement under the AEWV itself — although your employer may independently require English proficiency for the role, and certain professional registration bodies in New Zealand (for nurses, doctors, engineers, and others) have their own English requirements that operate separately from immigration.

For Sri Lankan applicants targeting level 4-5 roles who do need to sit an English test, the accepted tests include IELTS, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, and Cambridge C1 Advanced. The required score depends on the role — check the specific threshold for your occupation on the Immigration New Zealand website rather than assuming a universal minimum applies. Prepare early: test slots at Colombo testing centres can book out weeks in advance, and results take time to arrive.

Financial Planning for Sri Lankan AEWV Applicants

Unlike student visas or tourist visas, the AEWV does not typically require you to demonstrate a maintenance fund or show money balance held in a Sri Lankan bank account. The financial logic of the AEWV is different: you are going to New Zealand to work and be paid by an accredited employer, so the expectation is that your salary covers your living costs. Immigration New Zealand does not apply a bank balance test to your AEWV application in the way that, for example, a UK Standard Visitor Visa or an Australia student visa requires demonstrated funds.

That said, the financial side of an AEWV move from Sri Lanka involves real costs that need to be planned for. The visa application fee itself must be paid in New Zealand dollars — check the current fee on the Immigration New Zealand website, as fees are updated periodically and this guide cannot guarantee the figure at your time of application. Relocation costs from Sri Lanka to New Zealand are substantial: flights for a family, shipping household goods, initial accommodation deposit in New Zealand, and the gap period between arriving and receiving your first pay. These costs can easily run to several hundred thousand LKR for a single applicant, and significantly more for a family.

If your partner is applying for an open work visa alongside you, there are additional application fees for their visa. If you have children, factor in school enrolment fees in New Zealand. For Sri Lankan families where one of you will initially not be working — either because your partner cannot meet the wage threshold for an open work visa, or because they are settling in — you will be supporting the household on a single New Zealand income for a period. Run a realistic budget against New Zealand living costs before you commit to the move.

When sending money from Sri Lanka to New Zealand — whether to cover initial relocation costs, support your family's settlement, or as a financial buffer — you are operating within Central Bank of Sri Lanka foreign exchange regulations. Keep transfer records clear and consistent. If family members in Sri Lanka are sending you funds to New Zealand after you arrive, ensuring the source of those funds is documented with your Sri Lankan bank reduces complications for both the sender and any future New Zealand immigration or tax queries.

How ShowMoneyLK Helps AEWV Applicants from Sri Lanka

ShowMoneyLK specialises in financial documentation for Sri Lankan visa applicants, and while the AEWV itself does not have a show-money requirement in the traditional sense, our work becomes relevant at several points in the AEWV journey. If your partner is applying for an open work visa alongside your AEWV and needs to demonstrate anything about your household financial position, we help document that cleanly. If family members in Sri Lanka are providing financial support for your relocation or initial settlement costs, we help them obtain properly formatted source-of-funds letters, balance certificates, and supporting documentation from Sri Lankan banks including Bank of Ceylon, Commercial Bank, Sampath, Hatton National Bank, People's Bank, NSB, NDB, Seylan, and DFCC.

We also assist Sri Lankan workers who are exploring New Zealand as part of a broader migration plan — including those who may need financial documentation for a partner or dependent visa later, or for a permanent residency application once they have accumulated New Zealand work experience. If your situation involves a family sponsor, an overseas-sourced deposit, or funds that have come from multiple sources, we help you present that story to Immigration New Zealand in a way that is honest, verifiable, and structured. We have helped Sri Lankan clients with New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other destinations — the underlying principle is always the same: compliant documentation that survives immigration scrutiny.