Accreditation for Franchisees & Controlling Third parties

What is a franchisee employer?

A business is considered a franchisee employer if:

they have bought the right to use a pre-existing business system authorised by a third party business
their business uses a brand, trade mark, advertising, marketing channels, or a commercial symbol owned by that third party, and
that third party business controls certain activities or structures within their business as set out through an agreement, operational guideline or a terms and conditions document.

A controlling third party:

is a separate legal entity to the direct employer named on the worker's employment agreement
has an arrangement or contract with the employer allowing its employees to perform work for the benefit of the controlling third party, and
can direct or control those employees as if the controlling third party was the direct employer.

Examples of employers who place people with controlling third parties include:

labor-hire companies
employers who send migrant employees on secondment to a controlling third party
parent or umbrella companies placing their migrant workers with a third party such as a subsidiary company or branch that is a separate legal entity.

INZ does not consider placing AEWV holders in different parts of a single business to be placing migrants with controlling third parties.

To get accredited franchisee employers of AEWV holders must meet the minimum standard accreditation requirements applying to all employers of AEWV holders.
In addition to meeting minimum standard accreditation requirements, franchisee employers must have been operating (trading or carrying out their business) for at least 12 months as a franchisee.
If you are a new business and have had 12 months of experience in another business you own, which sells the same goods and services as the new business, you can use that experience to meet the accreditation requirement.
The accreditation fee for franchisees is NZD $1980.
When you are approved for the first time you will receive accreditation for 12 months.
Franchisees will get accreditation for a further 12 months at renewal.

All employers need to meet standard requirements to get accredited.
If you are placing people with controlling third parties you also need to meet requirements that check you have good systems in place to monitor the employment and safety conditions of the AEWV holder when they are placed with the controlling third party.
The fee for employers wanting to place migrants with controlling third parties is NZD $3870.
When you are approved for the first time you will receive accreditation for 12 months.
Employers placing migrants on AEWVs with controlling third parties will get accreditation for a further 12 months at renewal.