Businesses are being advised to take action now to become an accredited employer under a new work visa scheme - a time consuming and lengthy process.
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The government's Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme is expected to be rolled out next June.
But immigration lawyer Aaron Martin at Immigration Law said businesses had no time to waste in getting the paperwork underway.
Businesses seeking accreditation status would be required to demonstrate their trustworthiness in several areas, including labour law compliance, human resources, worker training, benefits, and pay.
"For your application to be successful, you'll need proof that you actively comply with current employment standards and good workplace practices regarding health and safety and fair treatment," Martin said.
"You'll also need updated employment contracts that include recent law changes such as the 2020 Privacy Act and Parental Leave Scheme and Domestic Violence Leave."
The maximum duration of the essential skills visas for jobs paid below the median wage will increase from 12 months to 24 months.
Martin said businesses should not underestimate the work involved in gaining accreditation.
"Like so many things Immigration New Zealand (INZ) does, the particulars of what they expect aren't very clearly articulated at all and, as the latest announcement demonstrates, subject to change at any time.
"Over the last year, we've helped dozens of employers apply under the former accreditation regime, and what we've learned is that INZ is looking closely at what a company's HR and training policies looked like in practice prior to the current policies in place. Simply creating policies and supporting documents and presenting them as current won't be accepted at face value."
Martin said gaining accreditation was not a box-ticking exercise and pushbacks from the department were common.
"They're looking for a history of compliant behaviour and a record of results, so the more time you have your policies in play, the better. If you've just written your policy suite a month ago, expect it to be held up to scrutiny."