The application process, step by step

Last reviewed 2026-06-28

This lesson explains, in simple terms, how a New Zealand immigration application usually works, step by step, including exactly what an employer needs to have in place before an AEWV applicant can even apply. It restates information that is publicly available about the process. It is not advice about your own application, and it does not tell you what to do in your situation. Check the current process for your category at immigration.govt.nz.

The steps most processes share

Every category has its own published rules, but most published processes follow a similar pattern:

1. Read the published rules. Each category has a page explaining who it is published for and what it asks for. That page is the authoritative source.
2. Organise your evidence. The published guidance describes categories of documents (identity, qualifications, employment, health and character, and so on). The document checklist in this site restates the common categories so you can organise your own collection.
3. Complete any steps that come first. Some pathways have steps that must happen before a person applies. The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is the clearest published example: three checks generally need to be in place before an applicant can apply. The employer must hold Immigration New Zealand accreditation. The specific role must pass a published job check, which can include advertising the role or a labour market test where required. And the applicant must meet the published requirements themselves, which typically cover relevant skills or experience, pay at or above the published rate for the role, and English, health and character where these apply. All three checks are published gates, not a single combined score.
4. Submit the application. Applications go to Immigration New Zealand through the published channel, with the required forms, evidence and fees.
5. Assessment. Immigration New Zealand checks the application against its published rules and may ask for more information.
6. Decision. Immigration New Zealand tells you the outcome. Only Immigration New Zealand decides an application.

Turning the process into a plan

The planning worksheet in this site walks through these published steps for the pathway you choose. It lets you mark your own progress, add your own notes, and set your own target dates. It is a personal organiser built on published information; it does not assess your eligibility or tell you what to do.

The timelines page shows the published order of the steps. It deliberately does not guess how long a decision takes, because Immigration New Zealand publishes current processing times itself, and those times change.

What this lesson does not do

It does not tell you which category to apply under, whether your evidence is good enough, or what the outcome will be. A Licensed Immigration Adviser can help with that, because they can look at your full, specific situation.