Update from Immigration NZ — November 2025

Important Visa Pak information

We have released a new Visa Pak 646 that has important information for professionals about market rate assessments and parent boost bona fides.

This replaces the old VP 618. Immigration New Zealand will be now referring to the Tahatū Career Navigator as the primary source for market rate information.

Tahatū Career Navigator website(external link)

Calculating minimum income requirements for dependents

We want to highlight Visa Pak 637: Calculating Minimum Income Requirements for Dependents of AEWV.

Calculating Minimum Income Requirements for Dependents of AEWV PDF 204KB(external link)

There currently appears to be a lack of understanding around how to calculate the minimum income requirement for dependents. 

This Visa Pak is an important one that helps to clarify the requirements for professionals. 

Incomplete/incorrect individual employment agreements (IEA)

We still see many applications with employment agreements that are wrong or incomplete. This slows down processing.

Employment agreements should include all the legally mandatory clauses that were required at the time the IEA itself was signed. 

The most common clause that is missing is the sexual harassment clause.

The most common clause that is included and shouldn’t be is the 90-day trial period.

Do not include a 90-day trial period for first-time AEWV or MCS applications with a new employer. This also applies if you change jobs and have a new employer.

You do not need an amended IEA for later AEWV applications or MCS balance applications with the same employer. The 90-day trial period no longer applies.

We do not expect an employer to update an IEA every time the law changes, especially if an employee remains in their employment continuously.

However, if a migrant is applying to reuse their job token but the original IEA provided was incorrect, then this must be amended.

We are still using Visa Pak 630 relating to the 90-day trial period as required.

Visa Pak 630 can be downloaded as a PDF:
Employment Agreements in AEWV and VOC Application Visa Pak 630 PDF 195KB(external link)