Immigration New Zealand is moving off the old ANZSCO classification and onto its own National Occupation List. The change is gradual, but it's already affecting Job Checks.
For years, New Zealand immigration has classified jobs using ANZSCO - the Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations. It's an Australian-built system, and it hasn't kept pace with the way New Zealand jobs actually look.
So INZ is replacing it with its own National Occupation List, the NOL. The NOL is designed to reflect current New Zealand roles more accurately, and to be updated every year rather than left to go stale. Confusingly, what Stats New Zealand has classified hundreds (if not thousands) of roles into its Aria tool, only a small percentage are being used by Immigration NZ.
How the change is rolling out
This isn't a single switch-over. It's a staged transition. INZ began by recognising 87 new occupations under the NOL from 3 November 2025, then reclassified a further set from 9 March 2026. More will follow as the shift continues.
NOL codes can currently only be used for Accredited Employer Work Visa applications, and you need to revert back to the ANZSCO code for a residence application. This can be particularly confusing where a role has been differentiated into many different roles at seemingly different skill levels for AEWVs.
For example, a Chef was previously classed as skill level 2 and required a Diploma level qualification or 3 years' of relevant work experience. Now a Head Chef is classed as skill level 1, and requires a Bachelor degree or 5 years' work experience while Chef de Partie and Sous Chef are skill level 2, requiring a diploma or 3 years' experience. Yet other Chefs fall into skill level 3, requiring a level 4 qualification or 3 years' experience and they all have different NOL codes from each other. All of that applies to Accredited Employer Work Visa applications. But if they applied for residence they would all need to use the same ANZSCO code for a Chef.
What this means for your Job Checks
The practical impact hits the Job Check. When you lodge one, the occupation code has to match the job description and the pay. As roles move onto the NOL, the correct code for a role can change, and the wording that INZ expects to see can change with it.
So the risk is a mismatch - using an old code or old wording for a role that's now defined differently under the NOL, and getting a delay or a decline for it. The fix is straightforward: review your Job Check templates and job descriptions against the current classification before you advertise a role or lodge a Job Check. Don't assume you can just repeat what you did last time.
Why it can also help
The transition isn't only admin. Some roles that didn't fit the old ANZSCO categories cleanly are being recognised properly under the NOL, and some are now at a skill level that opens up more than the old classification did - longer stays, or family eligibility on the Accredited Employer Work Visa. For a role that was awkward to place before, the NOL may actually work in your favour.
If you hire into the same roles regularly, it's worth having your Job Check templates checked against the current classifications. We can do that as a stand alone piece of work.
