You are working in New Zealand on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), a work visa for people hired by an employer that Immigration New Zealand (INZ, the government agency that runs visas) has approved. It is temporary, so sooner or later you ask when you can stay for good, and that depends on how each residence route counts your months of work.

This guide is general information: it sets out each route's conditions, not which one fits you.

Who this is for

You hold an AEWV, or you are about to, and you want to know which of your months could count toward a resident visa, which "allows you to live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely" (INZ, Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa). If you are still applying for an AEWV, our AEWV guide covers the visa itself. If you are on a post-study work visa instead, our guide on what to do when your post-study work visa is ending starts from there.

Two clocks run at the same time

The visa's clock. INZ limits the total time you can stay in New Zealand on one or more AEWVs, which it also calls your maximum continuous stay. Its page on how long you can stay on an AEWV sets 5 years for most jobs at skill level 1 to 3 and for some other jobs it names, such as Green List jobs, and 3 years for other jobs at skill level 4 or 5. Jobs are graded from skill level 1, the most skilled, to 5; our post on occupation codes explains how a job gets its level.

The same page says: "Any time you spend in New Zealand on an AEWV counts towards the total time you can stay", and at the end of it "you must leave New Zealand for 12 months before you can get another regular AEWV". INZ's tool for checking how long you can stay works out your limit from your job.

The residence clock. Each residence route counts only the months that meet its conditions: full-time work (at least 30 hours a week) in the right kind of job, paid at least the route's rate, inside a window counted back from the day you apply. So a month can use up visa time without counting toward residence at all.

How the same months count, route by route

The table covers five routes that count New Zealand work. Three are pathways of the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC), New Zealand's main resident visa for skilled workers. Two are work to residence visas, one for Green List jobs and one for care jobs.

"Within" counts back from the day you apply, so older months drop out as time passes. Every figure in the middle column fits inside even a 3-year visa limit; what decides whether you get there in time is how many of your months actually count.

SMC points. This pathway needs 6 points. INZ's SMC Resident Visa page says they come first from your qualification, your income or an occupational registration (a licence some jobs need), and "If you cannot claim all 6 points from one of these categories, you may be able to claim an additional 1 to 3 points from skilled work experience in New Zealand." So New Zealand work tops up a score; it cannot reach 6 on its own. That work must be paid at least the SMC wage threshold, the minimum pay INZ sets for this visa (more under "Pay" below), or 1.5 times it in a job at skill level 4 or 5. The page's points checker gives the windows for these three rows. Our Skilled Migrant Category guide and free SMC calculator cover the rest.

Trades and Technician. No points, for jobs on INZ's trades and technician list. You also need a relevant qualification at level 4 or higher, and 4 years of relevant work after it in total, including the 1.5 in New Zealand. Our Trades and Technician guide covers it.

Skilled Work Experience. No points either. You need 5 years of directly relevant work in total, including the 2 New Zealand years, in a job at skill level 1 to 3, and the New Zealand years must be paid at least 1.1 times the SMC wage threshold. Jobs on INZ's Red List cannot use this pathway, and jobs on its Amber List, such as chef, need all 5 years in New Zealand and higher pay (INZ, Red and Amber List occupations). Our Skilled Work Experience guide covers it, and INZ's SMC page sets out both pathways.

Green List Tier 2. The Green List is INZ's list of jobs New Zealand is short of, and a Tier 2 job leads to the Work to Residence Visa. A Tier 1 job leads instead to the Straight to Residence Visa, which asks for no set time in New Zealand, so it is not in the table. For Tier 2 you need 24 months in a Green List Tier 2 job within the 30 months before you apply, and a work visa for the full 24 months before you apply. The months can come in stretches, such as "2 lots of 12 months with a gap of 6 months in between". Our Green List guide explains the tiers.

Care Workforce. The Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa covers named care jobs, such as aged or disabled carer, paid at least the care workforce wage rate. It has the same two conditions: 24 months of work within the last 30, here in the care workforce, and a work visa for the full 24 months before you apply. A third work to residence visa, for a few transport jobs, is outside this guide (INZ, care workforce and transport sector pathway).

Pay decides when the count starts. SMC wage thresholds "are based on the median wage and are updated each year" (the median is the wage in the middle when every New Zealand wage is lined up), and "Your skilled work experience starts counting when your pay meets the SMC wage threshold in place at that time" (INZ, SMC pay rates). Months paid below the rate do not count, so a pay rise can be the day your count begins.

Changing employer, and why the location matters

An AEWV is tied to one job: "You may work only in the job, for the employer and in the location stated on your visa" (INZ, Accredited Employer Work Visa). To change any of the three you apply for a Job Change, and INZ's page on changing your work visa conditions says the employer you move to "must be an AEWV accredited employer, and have a valid job check" for the job (a job check is INZ's approval for the employer to hire a migrant into that role). The same page adds:

• "The time left on your visa does not change if you get a Job Change."
• Working at a different location, even for the same employer, needs a Job Change unless your visa already approves more than one location.
• You generally cannot move from a job with a 5-year limit to one with a 3-year limit, so check the other job's limit with INZ's tool before accepting it.

A move can also break a residence count. On the Work to Residence Visa, time keeps counting after a job change only if the next job is also a Green List job paid at least the required rate. On the Skilled Work Experience and Trades and Technician pathways, skilled work experience is "work experience related to your current job or job offer" (INZ, SMC Resident Visa), so months in a different line of work may not count.

Announced for 2027: a longer AEWV to finish your experience

On 5 March 2026, INZ announced that "Migrants who need up to 12 additional months of skilled work experience to meet SMC requirements will be able to apply to extend their AEWV to complete the skilled work experience they need to apply for residence." It said this "is scheduled to be introduced in 2027", with details of who is eligible to follow (INZ news, 5 March 2026).

Until INZ publishes the rules on its AEWV page, treat it as an announcement, not something a plan can rest on.

What our report checks, and what it does not

From the dated work history you enter in the questionnaire, our report counts your full-time New Zealand work in jobs at skill level 1 to 3, so for SMC points it leaves out skill level 4 or 5 work even when it was paid 1.5 times the threshold. It compares that count with the SMC points for New Zealand work, inside each window in the table, and with the 2 New Zealand years of Skilled Work Experience and the 1.5 years of Trades and Technician. For those two it counts the New Zealand work inside INZ's own window: the last 4 years for Skilled Work Experience and the last 3 years for Trades and Technician (an Amber List job's 5 New Zealand years are counted over 10 years). It assesses the Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa too, but it does not count care months from your answers: the 24 months and the care wage come back as checklist steps.

It does not check your AEWV's maximum stay, or the 12 months outside New Zealand that follow it, so it cannot tell you whether your visa time runs out before you reach a figure in the table; INZ's tool tells you your limit. It does not assess the Work to Residence or Straight to Residence visas as routes of their own, and it does not check what you were paid during the months it counts. It never decides your case: only INZ does.

Where to start

The questionnaire is free, and so is the eligibility summary at the end of it. Unlocking the full report after that is your choice.

To see how New Zealand's routes read against your own work history, start the free questionnaire for New Zealand. Before you apply for anything, check INZ's pages above: they are the authority.