Hundreds of employers are under a migrant hiring freeze after an issue with Immigration NZ's IT system

Immigration's ADEPT IT system handles the renewal of visas issued under the Accredited Employee Work Visa scheme.

But an IT issue's meant around 500 employers who applied for a renewal, haven't received an interim accreditation - which would allow them to employ people whilst the review's being done.

Migration and Investment Association chair Arunima Dhingra says it's brought on unnecessary chaos.

She says it's already causing a whole lot of angst in the sector and it's the last thing these employers want.

Immigration NZ says it's working as fast as possible to fix it.