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Variation of Conditions / Job Change
Immigration NZ (INZ) has released long-awaited news regarding the ability to vary the conditions of your visa on the new Accredited Employer Work Visa category (AEWV).
If you’re on an Essential Skills Work Visa (‘ESWV’), the ability to vary the visa is called a Variation of Conditions (VOC) which now has an expanded range of options for a VOC.
For the Accredited Employer Work Visa, a variation is called a ‘Job Change’, and comes with new guidelines from INZ.
Rather than undertake an entire visa process, the Job Change is a faster and cheaper process but the proposed employer must:
- have a valid Employer Accreditation
- have a current Job Check for the position being offered
- pay the median wage except where the employer is from an industry that is exempt from paying the median wage.
The big difference between of the Job Change versus the old VOC is that the Job Change is less restrictive, notability, in where you work. Whereas the VOC instructions state that a worker can change employer, position or location within a specific region, the Job Change says, “You can apply for a Job Change to change your employer, position, location, or a combination of these.” This applies to both AEWV and ESWV holders.
This is great news for NZ work visa holders as it means a worker can ask for 3 modifications to their visa at once
- Work for a different employer
- Work in a different occupation
- Work in another region
Essential Skills Work Visa holders who have the opportunity to work for an employer who doesn’t have Accreditation or Job Check, can still do so through the Variation of Conditions process, but an additional form is required and the employer will have had to do a Labour Market Test.
The Job Change application fees are the same as the VOC: $210.
