Question:

An employee wants to extend their visa entitlement from 3 to 5 years, however, the employer has not renewed their accreditation. Will the success of the application be affected?

Answer:

Yes. If the employer has not renewed their accreditation, the employee will be unable to apply for the further two years of the AEWV.

An employer must hold valid accreditation at the point of the AEWV application and when the approval of the application is decided. 

INZ BORDER UPDATE:

Border Statistics

• 23/24 year to date has seen 4.75m arrivals, on track to exceed 6m by 30 June.
• Forecasting 6.9m arrivals for 2024 calendar year against 7.1 for 2019 (about 95% of pre-covid levels).
•   339,900 overseas visitor arrivals in four-week period ending 18/02/2024. 29.7% increase from same period in 2023.
• General distribution of arrivals is AKL 76%, CHC 12%, ZQN 6%, WLG 6%.
• 51% of arrivals originated from Australia ports, 11% from China (incl. Hong Kong), 10% from USA, 6% from Singapore, 4% from Fiji (those 5 countries represent 83% of ports of origin).
• 38% of arrivals did so on a NZ passport, 33% on a Visitor Visa (around 25% visa waiver and 8% visa required).
• Of arrivals, 15% were Australians, 9% Residents, 3% workers, 2% Students.
• 28 airlines flying to NZ at present, down one from pre COVID levels of 29.
• In Feb 24 we had 3,075 flights with seat capacity of 721,897.
• 557,056 passengers travelled – 77% loading (26% increase compared to Feb 23).



February 2024 Data

In February there were 311 offshore offloads from planes travelling to NZ. The top APP reasons identified over the past six months were:

• Visa being attached to an old or previous passport and the passenger travelling on a new passport.
• NZeTA issues, with the most common issue being that the client details on the NZeTA do not match the passenger’s passport.
• Airline queries, with the most common reason being an error at check-in.
• Visa data mismatch with the most common issue being client details on the visa details do not match the passenger’s passport.

If you require immigration support please don’t hesitate to contact us for an obligation and cost-free conversation.

Steve Baker
General Manager
Licensed Immigration Advisor 201801044
P: 03 353 0680
M: 027 212 5483