The Accredited Employer Work Visa lost its national salary floor in March 2025, and it was the largest liberalisation of any English-speaking work route in recent years. It got almost no attention, and a lot of advice still quotes a threshold that no longer applies.
The important part is what replaced it, because the constraint moved rather than disappeared.
What the salary rule is now
There is no national salary threshold on the AEWV. Instead, two conditions apply together:
- Your pay must be the market rate for that job, in that region. What a New Zealander doing the same work in the same place would be paid.
- It must be at or above the adult minimum wage.
That is a meaningfully different test and it cuts both ways. A role that failed the old median wage test can now be sponsored, which opens the route to a great many jobs it previously excluded. But “market rate” is assessed locally, so a national figure you find online tells you nothing about whether a specific offer qualifies. Immigration New Zealand sets out what changed.
The median wage still decides four things
This is where people get caught. The median wage rose to NZD 35.00 an hour on 9 March 2026 and remains embedded in the rules, just not as an entry threshold:
| What it gates | The multiple |
|---|---|
| Exemption from advertising, and from minimum skill requirements | Roles paid at least twice the median wage |
| The maximum five-year stay for certain lower-skilled roles | Roles paid at least 1.5 times the median wage |
| Income thresholds for supporting a partner and dependent children | Indexed to the median wage |
| Skilled residence pathways, including the Skilled Migrant Category, Green List residence and Transport Work to Residence | Indexed to the median wage |
Read the third row carefully if you are moving with family. The entry threshold for you was removed; the income threshold for bringing your partner and children was not, and it rises with the median wage every year. A job that gets you in does not automatically get them in.
Accreditation is the real filter
The clue is in the name. You cannot be sponsored by any New Zealand employer, only by an accredited one, and accreditation is something the employer applies for and maintains rather than something you can supply.
In practice that is what filters the market. Large employers and established recruiters hold accreditation; many small businesses do not and will not go through the process for one hire. So the productive search is not for a job and then a visa, it is for an accredited employer, and then a job with them.
Ask the question directly and early. An employer who does not know whether they are accredited is not accredited, and the conversation can stop there rather than three interviews later.
Where the AEWV leads
The AEWV is a work visa, not residence. The residence step is the Skilled Migrant Category, and it changed too:
- You must be 55 or younger. A hard limit, not a scoring factor.
- You need six points from a single skill category: occupational registration, a qualification, or income. You cannot add categories together.
- If your strongest category falls short of six, the balance can only come from skilled work experience gained in New Zealand. Which is precisely why most people arrive on an AEWV first.
Two pathways were added in 2026 and both widen eligibility: a Skilled Work Experience Pathway for roles at ANZSCO skill levels 1 to 3, and a Trades and Technician Pathway. If you assessed this route before and did not qualify, it is worth reassessing. Detail in the Skilled Migrant Category and its six points.
How New Zealand compares
Worth putting beside the alternatives, because on the entry test New Zealand is now among the easiest English-speaking destinations and almost nobody has noticed.
| Country | What you must clear |
|---|---|
| New Zealand | Market rate and the minimum wage. No national threshold |
| Ireland | EUR 40,904 with a relevant degree |
| Australia | AUD 79,423, and AUD 4,015 per adult in visa charges |
| United Kingdom | GBP 41,700, plus GBP 1,035 per person per year in health surcharge |
The trade-off is accreditation, which is a narrower employer pool rather than a higher bar. Full comparison in the easiest countries to move to.
What to do
- Search for accredited employers, not for jobs. It is the binding constraint and it is a fact about them.
- Ignore any national salary threshold you read. Ask what the market rate is for that role in that region.
- If you are bringing family, check the partner and dependent income thresholds separately. They are still indexed to the median wage.
- Plan the residence step from the start. The Skilled Migrant Category top-up points can only be earned in New Zealand, so the work visa is the route to residence rather than a detour.
- Never pay for a job offer. The employer carries the sponsorship cost.
Related: New Zealand’s fast-track work visa and common visa application mistakes. Browse shortage jobs with visa sponsorship on our board.
Last checked September 2026. The median wage is reviewed annually and rose on 9 March 2026. Employer accreditation status changes, so confirm it with Immigration New Zealand rather than taking an employer’s word for it.
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