ANZSCO and skill levels at a glance
- ANZSCO skill levels
- 1 to 5
- SMC wage threshold from 9 March 2026
- $35.00
- SMC residence appeal deadline
- 42 days
| Setting | Skill level 1 to 3 | Skill level 4 to 5 |
|---|---|---|
| AEWV advertising before the job check | At least 14 days | 21 days, plus engagement with Work and Income |
| AEWV English requirement | Skill level 3 roles from 1 June 2026; not levels 1 and 2 | Required |
| AEWV maximum continuous stay | Five years | Three years |
| SMC Points-based pathway | Paid the SMC wage threshold ($35.00 an hour) | Paid 1.5 times the threshold ($52.50 an hour) |
| SMC Skilled Work Experience and Trades and Technician pathways | Available (Trades and Technician for listed occupations only) | Not available |
Rates from 9 March 2026. The detail and the exceptions are in the sections below.
Find the parts of this guide that match your situation
For educational and illustrative purposes only. This is not immigration advice, and no warranty is given as to its appropriateness or accuracy. If in doubt, talk to an immigration adviser or an immigration lawyer about your specific circumstances.
What ANZSCO is and which version INZ uses
ANZSCO is the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, a joint statistical classification that assigns every occupation a six-digit code and a skill level from 1 (most skilled) to 5, based on the qualification and experience the occupation commensurately requires. The statisticians have already moved on: Stats NZ released its replacement National Occupation List (NOL) in November 2024 and Australia released its own successor. INZ has not:
| Where | Classification |
|---|---|
| General rule | ANZSCO version 1.2 |
| Skilled Migrant Category applications | ANZSCO version 1.3 |
| AEWV, for listed occupations only | NOL occupations expressly listed in Appendix 20 of the operational manual |
INZ says it will keep using ANZSCO until a full transition, with no confirmed date. NOL codes are not yet recognised for residence.
The NOL recognises occupations ANZSCO handles badly: it splits chef roles into head chef, sous chef, chef de partie and demi chef at different skill levels, where ANZSCO forced most kitchens into a chef-or-cook binary, and 47 more NOL occupations were recognised for the AEWV in March 2026. If your occupation reads badly in ANZSCO, checking whether an Appendix 20 NOL occupation fits the real duties is now a legitimate first move for AEWV purposes.
The substantial match test
The machinery is the same at both decision points: WA3.16.1 for the AEWV job check, SR2.1.1 for Skilled Migrant residence. The employment must be substantially consistent with the six-digit occupation description and with the tasks listed at the four-digit unit-group level, excluding tasks not relevant to the occupation, and:
“To be considered a substantial match to an occupation, the tasks relevant to the ANZSCO occupation description must comprise most of the applicant's role.”
Your job title is irrelevant if the duties do not match: the test is substance, not label.
Officers may also weigh:
- The scope and scale of the employer's operation: the size of the business, the number of staff and managers, and whether management functions are centralised at a head office
- The qualifications and experience required for the role
- The pay offered
The scope-and-scale factor is where franchise and small-format retail managers lose: a store manager whose pricing, purchasing and staffing decisions sit with the franchisor or head office can be found not to be managing in the ANZSCO sense, however demanding the job.
What skill level changes on the AEWV
Since 10 March 2025 there is no median wage threshold for the AEWV: pay must be at or above the adult minimum wage and not less than the market rate for the occupation. What skill level still controls is almost everything else:
- Advertising and MSD engagement. Jobs at ANZSCO (or listed NOL) skill level 1 to 3 need at least 14 days' advertising before the job check; level 4 to 5 jobs need 21 days plus engagement with Work and Income. Roles paying at least twice the median wage ($70.00 an hour from 9 March 2026) or on the Green List are exempt from advertising.
- English. Applicants for level 4 to 5 roles must meet an English standard (IELTS 4.0 or equivalent), and from 1 June 2026 that requirement extends to skill level 3 roles, with a transitional exemption for existing AEWV holders whose visa expires on or before 1 December 2026 applying to use the balance of their stay.
- Maximum stay and stand-down. Skill level 1 to 3 (including listed NOL occupations, Green List roles, and any role paid at least 1.5 times the median, $52.50 an hour) allows up to five years' continuous stay; level 4 to 5 allows three. At the end of the maximum stay the holder must spend 12 consecutive months outside New Zealand before a fresh AEWV.
- The applicant threshold. Since 10 March 2025, two years' relevant experience (evidenced beyond your own CV) or a relevant Level 4+ qualification, waived for Green List roles or pay at twice the median.
- Appendix 7 upgrades. Cooks, fitness instructors, scaffolders and slaughterers are treated as skill level 3 despite their ANZSCO level, and several plant-operator roles can be, where the employer sets level-3-equivalent requirements.
Skilled employment for residence since 24 August 2026
Since 24 August 2026 the Skilled Migrant Category has had three pathways. Under each sits a skilled employment requirement, and this is where the code bites:
| Pathway | Skilled employment must be | Other core requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Points-based | ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 and paid the SMC wage threshold ($35.00 an hour from 9 March 2026), or skill level 4 to 5 or not in ANZSCO and paid 1.5 times it ($52.50) | 6 points from income, qualification or New Zealand registration, or one of those topped up by points for New Zealand skilled work experience |
| Skilled Work Experience | ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 and paid 1.1 times the threshold ($38.50), or 1.2 times ($42.00) for Amber List occupations | At least 5 years of directly relevant work experience, including 2 years of skilled work experience in New Zealand at the required pay |
| Trades and Technician | ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3, in an occupation on the Trades and Technician list (Appendix 23), and paid the threshold | A relevant level 4 or higher qualification and at least 4 years of directly relevant experience after it, including 18 months in New Zealand |
Occupations on the Red List (Appendix 22) can use the Points-based pathway only. The pay rates in brackets are the 9 March 2026 figures from SR3.10.5.
Under the Points-based pathway it is a 50% higher wage bar. The two pathways added on 24 August 2026 need a skill level 1 to 3 role.
On every pathway the job must also be full-time, genuine, permanent or at least a 12-month fixed term, and with an accredited employer. Officers apply the substantial match test against ANZSCO version 1.3, and may separately assess whether you are suitably qualified for the occupation: holding the qualification the code indicates, or the experience ANZSCO accepts in substitution (five years for a skill level 1 occupation, three for levels 2 and 3).
Since 24 August 2026 most applicants must meet the SMC wage threshold that was in effect when they began the skilled work experience that counts, not the one in effect when they are invited to apply. Where the threshold rose between the work visa grant and the start of work, and work began within five months of the grant, the rate on the grant date applies.
The occupations that get fought over
Disputed skill assessments are the single biggest theme in the residence appeals the Immigration and Protection Tribunal publishes: the tribunal's own index records "position not skilled" against nearly 1,500 decisions, with retail managers, store managers, restaurant managers and chefs the most-named occupations. Across 3,640 decided Skilled Migrant appeals in the published record, 48% were allowed, and the full appeal-rate analysis shows how sharply outcomes differ with representation.
| Who appeared for the appellant | Succeeded | Dismissed or declined | Decided appeals | Success share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A representative named in the decision | 1,374 | 1,399 | 2,773 | 50% |
| The appellant represented themselves | 325 | 453 | 778 | 42% |
A correlation, not a measure of what representation does: professionals also turn weak cases away.
Computed by this site from the published decisions of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal and its predecessor boards in skilled migrant residence appeals. A decision counts as represented where it names a representative for the appellant, and as self-represented where it records that the appellant represented themselves; decisions that show neither are left out, as are withdrawn appeals and procedural rulings. The appeal success rates guide explains the method. Figures as at 20 September 2026, the date of the most recent decision file in the data.
The recurring patterns:
- A franchise or small-store manager whose autonomy sits with head office (the scope-and-scale factor)
- A café or restaurant manager in a quick-service format that INZ reads as a lower-skilled retail occupation
- The chef-versus-cook boundary, where seniority and menu responsibility decide which side of the line the role falls, a fight the NOL's chef split now partly defuses for AEWV purposes
| Occupation (ANZSCO 1.3) | List | Effect for the Skilled Migrant Category |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Manager (General) | Red List (Appendix 22) | Points-based pathway only |
| Hospitality, Retail and Service Manager nec | Red List (Appendix 22) | Points-based pathway only |
| Café or Restaurant Manager | Amber List (Appendix 21) | Additional requirements on the Skilled Work Experience pathway |
| Chef | Amber List (Appendix 21) | Additional requirements on the Skilled Work Experience pathway |
Both lists name other occupations too, such as hotel or motel managers on the Amber List and hairdressers on the Red List. INZ says the lists will be reviewed regularly.
In every version of the dispute the evidence that matters is the same: what you actually do, day to day, documented.
What to do when INZ disagrees with your code
- PPI letterBefore INZ decides on the concern
If INZ doubts the match mid-application, it must put the concern to you before deciding on it, in a PPI letter.
- Your response
The response is where the case is won or lost: it has to answer the actual test, with evidence.
- Decision
The routes after a decline depend on what was declined.
- PPI letter
- Your response
- DecisionIf a Skilled Migrant residence application is declinedAppeal to the tribunal within 42 days
A response that engages the test usually includes:
- A detailed statement of duties mapped against the unit-group tasks
- An organisation chart showing what you control
- An employer letter addressing scale and autonomy
- Rosters or timesheets showing where the hours go
- Evidence of the qualifications, experience and pay the role carries
Generic job descriptions restating the ANZSCO text are read as exactly that.
| What was declined | Route | Time limit |
|---|---|---|
| An AEWV job check | No appeal. The employer can seek reconsideration, decided by a different officer for a fee, with no obligation to consider new information, so a fresh, better-evidenced job check is often the cleaner path | 14 calendar days for reconsideration |
| A temporary visa | No appeal to the tribunal | No appeal right |
| A Skilled Migrant residence application | A full appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, on the grounds that the decision was wrong under the instructions or that your circumstances warrant an exception | 42 days |
Where the duties genuinely fit a different code, another ANZSCO occupation or a listed NOL occupation for AEWV purposes, claiming the right code from the start beats defending the wrong one.
Check your understanding
These questions check what this guide says. They say nothing about your own case.
For educational and illustrative purposes only. This is not immigration advice, and no warranty is given as to its appropriateness or accuracy. If in doubt, talk to an immigration adviser or an immigration lawyer about your specific circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- INZ operational manual WA3.16 (job check: occupation and skill level)
- INZ operational manual SR2.1 (SMC: substantial match and genuine employment; effective 24 August 2026)
- INZ operational manual SR3.10 (SMC: summary of requirements and wage thresholds; effective 24 August 2026)
- INZ operational manual SR3.15 (SMC: skilled employment; effective 24 August 2026)
- INZ operational manual SR3.25 (SMC: Points-based pathway; effective 24 August 2026)
- INZ operational manual Appendix 21 (Amber List)
- INZ operational manual Appendix 22 (Red List)
- INZ operational manual WA4.11 (AEWV: maximum continuous stay and stand-down)
- INZ operational manual Appendix 7 (occupations treated as skill level 3)
- INZ operational manual Appendix 20 (NOL occupations recognised for the AEWV)
- INZ operational manual WA3.40 (job check reconsideration: 14 days)
- INZ news: changes to the AEWV and median wage (10 March 2025)
- INZ news: English language requirements extended to AEWV skill level 3 roles (1 June 2026)
- INZ news: further SMC changes from 24 August 2026 (5 March 2026)
- INZ news: final details about the SMC and work to residence changes (18 June 2026)
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