SMC work-experience evidence: contracts, Inland Revenue and separate employment periods
SMC New Zealand skilled experience needs authentic records, not only a CV or employer service letter. SR 3.20 requires previous and current agreements and job descriptions, plus an Inland Revenue earnings summary or the applicable contracting tax statement. Establish dates, hours, pay and lawful permission for each period before counting the experience required by the chosen pathway.
Agreements and tax evidence answer different questions
The agreement and description identify the applicant, employing legal entity, occupation, hours and remuneration. Use the actual versions for earlier work. Inland Revenue evidence supports the period and income that occurred; a current agreement cannot independently establish every past month. Similar job titles can conceal different employers, duties or hours.
Evidence | Purpose |
Previous and current agreements and descriptions | The real terms and work |
Inland Revenue earnings summary | Employment period and income |
Applicable contracting tax statement | Actual service-contract income period |
Further pay or bank evidence when requested | Clarification of payments and discrepancies |
Do not invent a universal requirement that every person must supply one identical monthly report. Evidence must cover the necessary period, and INZ may request more. A privately assembled monthly worksheet helps checking but is not the Inland Revenue record itself.
Lawfulness and full-time work come first
SR 3.20 requires actual New Zealand work of at least 30 hours each working week at the relevant pathway wage. Time spent unlawfully in the country, or working without required authority, does not count. Payment by a company does not repair missing permission, and a later visa does not automatically legitimise earlier unauthorised work.
Services contracts may be considered under the rules, with genuine activity, required pay and evidence. An invoice alone does not satisfy the full assessment. Overseas employment letters also do not turn offshore service into New Zealand experience. Any overseas-experience component under another pathway has its own purpose and instructions.
Separate periods may combine without counting the gap
The instructions expressly allow non-consecutive experience. Their example uses two 12-month periods with a six-month gap to make 24 months. It does not make the entire 30-month elapsed period employment. Nor does changing jobs automatically reset all genuine experience to zero.
Each period must still meet its pathway and look-back requirements. The points pathway's one-year,18-month and two-year experience claims have corresponding prior-two-, three- and four-year windows. Count backwards from the resident application date. Earlier work usable at EOI may sit differently within the window when the application is lodged later.
Wage changes and qualifying leave need separate treatment
Experience starts counting when the applicable wage is met and stops if pay falls below the required threshold. A recent increase does not retrospectively qualify all earlier work. Income-category claims require the relevant multiplier, and registration claims have an after-registration timing rule. Hours alone do not establish all these conditions.
SR 3.20 also allows leave within the specified statutory definition, including listed parental and ACC leave, where the required wage was met immediately before leave. Do not exclude every absence universally or treat every private work interruption as qualifying leave. Use genuine leave and wage records for the actual provision.
Reconcile agreements, tax, pay, bank and permission by date, obtaining authentic missing records from the issuer. Explain changes of employer, name or remuneration without editing duties, inventing dates or double-counting overlaps. Make formal claims from supported periods, keeping unresolved matters open. Total CV years are not a guarantee of eligible experience or residence approval.
Official sources and verification date
18 October 2026
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