Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Immigration Act 2009

Compliance and information - Power to access employment documents

275A: Power to access employment documents

You could also call this:

“Immigration officers can request and review employment documents to check visa compliance”

When you’re an immigration officer, you can ask employers for certain documents. You can do this to check if the employer is following the rules for employing someone from another country.

You can ask for documents like time records, wage records, or leave records. You can also ask for other papers about how much the employee is paid or their working conditions, like their employment agreement.

If you’re an employer and an immigration officer asks for these documents, you need to give them right away. If you can’t do it immediately, you have 10 working days to provide them. You must give the documents even if doing so might get you in trouble.

The law calls the employer a “supporting employer” and the employee a “supported employee”. A supporting employer is someone who offered a job to a person who needed that job offer to get a visa. It’s also an employer who can only employ someone with a specific type of visa.

If an immigration officer gets information from these documents, they and their department can’t use it to take action against anyone except the supporting employer or another supporting employer.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS934551.

Topics:
Immigration and citizenship > Visas
Immigration and citizenship > Border control
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Previous

275: Persons required to provide access to address information, or

“Who can be asked to give information about where you live or who you are”

Next

276: Powers of entry and inspection relating to records of accommodation providers, or

“Immigration officers can check hotel records to find people who may need to leave New Zealand”

Part 8 Compliance and information
Power to access employment documents

275APower to access employment documents

  1. An immigration officer may exercise the power in subsection (2) for the following purposes:

  2. determining whether a supporting employer is employing (or has employed) a supported employee in accordance with the work-related conditions of the supported employee’s visa:
    1. determining whether a supporting employer is complying (or has complied) with the supporting employer’s obligations (which, to avoid doubt, include the obligation not to commit an offence) under this Act.

      1. An immigration officer may require a supporting employer to supply a document (or a copy of it) that is—

      2. a wages and time record, or leave record kept in accordance with the provisions of any Act; or
        1. any other document relating to the remuneration or employment conditions of a supported employee (for example, an employment agreement).

          1. A supporting employer must comply with the requirement immediately after receiving it, or, if that is not practicable, within 10 working days of the date on which the requirement is received.

          2. A supporting employer is not excused from complying with the requirement on the ground that complying might tend to incriminate them or expose them to a penalty.

          3. In this section, supporting employer means an employer in relation to either of the following people (who is a supported employee of that employer):

          4. a person who was required by immigration instructions to have an offer of employment to be granted a visa and had an offer from that employer; or
            1. a person who has work-related conditions of their visa specifying that they may only work for that employer.

              1. If an immigration officer obtains information from a supporting employer under this section, the immigration officer and the Department must not use that information for the purpose of taking adverse action under this Act against any person other than the supporting employer or another supporting employer.

              Notes
              • Section 275A: inserted, on , by section 4 of the Worker Protection (Migrant and Other Employees) Act 2023 (2023 No 36).