From 24 August, officers can weigh pay, family ties, start dates and employers’ local presence
From 24 August 2026, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is changing how it decides whether your employment is "genuine" for skilled residence, including under the Skilled Migrant Category and Green List pathways.
If you are working towards residence, this matters to you directly, because a finding that your employment is not genuine can sink your application, cost you your fee, and force you to start again. This article explains what the current rule requires, what is changing, the red flags that trigger scrutiny, and how to protect your application before you lodge it.
Why This Matters to You
A genuine employment finding is not a technicality. Skilled residence applications are expensive and the consequences of a decline are serious. If INZ does not accept that your employment is genuine, it will not award the required points. It will also not treat the role as acceptable employment, and your application will fail.
What this means for you: Understanding how INZ assesses genuineness, and getting ahead of its likely concerns, is one of the most important things you can do before applying.
The Current Rule Only Tells Half the Story
The current immigration instructions expressly mention only two things: whether you secured the job through a payment, and whether your pay matches the market rate for the occupation.
In reality, the Immigration and Protection Tribunal has long assessed genuineness far more broadly. It has confirmed that market rate is only one factor and that other factors may be taken into account, as seen in DQ (Skilled Migrant) [2025] NZIPT 207128, as well as in FB (Skilled Migrant) [2026] NZIPT 207270. The Tribunal asks whether the offer is real and not a sham, and, crucially, whether it "has not been constructed solely to assist the applicant to obtain residence."
What this means for you: You could tick both boxes in the current rule and still be declined on unwritten factors. The changes bring these factors into the open.
What Is Changing?
From 24 August 2026, the revised immigration instructions state that genuine employment must:
- not have been created for the purpose of facilitating a visa;
- be work that is available and ongoing;
- have a genuine need to be based in New Zealand; and
- be accurately represented in the information you give INZ.
It also lists factors an officer may weigh, including the market rate, whether the role meets a legitimate and ongoing operational business need, whether the offer came from a family member, your proposed start date, and whether your employer has an established presence in New Zealand such as premises, staffing, or ongoing activity.
What this means for you: The test now broadly mirrors the Accredited Employer Work Visa standard. If your job is real and needed, this is good news, because you finally know what you are being measured against. But INZ also gains clearer grounds to decline arrangements that look engineered.
The Red Flags That Trigger Scrutiny
Recent Tribunal decisions, decided under the old wording but applying much the same reasoning, show what draws concern:
- A role built around you: In CK (Straight to Residence) [2026], the role only existed once the applicant resigned his overseas job and that employer contracted the work back. The Tribunal found the offer was constructed primarily to help him get residence.
- No genuine need to be in New Zealand: In the same case, the work was remote-capable and served an overseas client, so there was no real need to be onshore.
- Pay above market with no justification: In DY (Skilled Migrant) [2025], a $148,200 salary exceeded the $135,000 market ceiling without adequate explanation. A similar issue arose in FB (Skilled Migrant) [2026].
- A start date that gives the game away: In DY, the employer claimed an urgent need but would not start the employee until residence was granted.
- A thin employer footprint: Residential addresses, no website, no local clients and unexplained finances featured on FB, while in BW (Straight to Residence) [2025] the business showed as "temporarily closed" online.
- A job description that does not match reality: In BW, an "electrical engineer" was running the company website. In CA (Straight to Residence) [2026], a "coordinator" and "manager" had identical job descriptions despite pay jumping from $25 to $70 an hour.
What this means for you: If your situation resembles any of these, expect questions, and prepare your evidence early.
The Family Member Factor: Handle With Care
The new rule expressly allows officers to consider whether your offer came from a family member. That scrutiny is legitimate; family relationships can create room for arrangements that do not reflect a genuine commercial need, so it is reasonable for INZ to look more closely. But closer scrutiny is not the same as automatic disqualification.
In EY (Skilled Migrant) [2026], an applicant worked for her cousin. INZ relied heavily on that relationship to decline her, but the Tribunal overturned the decision. Noting that INZ’s own assessor had recorded that there is no impact on employing family members within skilled residence applications.
What this means for you: Working for a relative is lawful. A family connection invites scrutiny, but it is not a disqualifier. What matters is whether your role is real, needed, and properly paid.
Fairness and Your Right to Respond
Codifying these factors gives you clearer notice of what INZ is assessing, which is a fairness improvement over the old, largely unwritten approach. But it does not change INZ's separate obligation to act fairly in how it applies them.
If an officer has concerns over these factors, natural justice principles require INZ to raise them with you. INZ's own instructions also require this. INZ must give you a reasonable opportunity to respond before declining your application.
If you receive a request for information or a letter raising these factors, respond carefully. This is your chance to address the concerns before INZ makes a decision, not after.
Key Takeaways
From 24 August 2026, the genuine employment test becomes clearer but broader, shifting the question from "is this a real job?" to "is there a genuine, ongoing, New Zealand-based need for this job?" To protect your residence application, you should:
- make sure your role reflects a real operational need and was not created around you;
- be ready to justify your pay against the market rate;
- ensure your job description matches what you actually do; and
- gather evidence of your employer's genuine business footprint.
Muhammad Bin Kamarudin is LegalVision's Corporate Immigration Practice Leader
