Plan your New Zealand student visa

What a New Zealand student visa lets you do, and what you commit to

A student visa lets you study the course on your visa, at the provider and place of study it names. It can also let you work part-time if your course qualifies, and you may be able to support visas for your partner and children.

In return, you commit to:

• studying full-time at the place of study on your visa (student visas aren't normally granted for distance learning);
• keeping up your attendance and progress, which Immigration New Zealand (INZ) asks about when you apply for your next visa;
• staying within your work conditions;
• holding medical and travel insurance from when you arrive in New Zealand until you leave (required on Fee Paying and Pathway visas, except for PhD students);
• getting approval before you change provider, move to a lower-level course or change how you study;
• leaving New Zealand when your visa ends, unless you hold another visa.

The commitment I see students underestimate most is attendance and course progress. It feels like a school matter until the next visa application, when a poor term or weak progress on an earlier visa suddenly becomes an immigration question.

INZ enforces these conditions, and a breach can mean you have to leave New Zealand. Its guide to student visa conditions sets them out.

Which student visa fits your plan?

If you're paying your own tuition, you'll generally apply for a Fee Paying Student Visa. If you plan several courses in a row, a Pathway Student Visa can cover up to three programmes with approved pathway providers, for up to five years. You need to meet the entry requirements for each later course to stay on that visa. Despite its name, a Pathway Student Visa has no link to residence.

I suggest a Pathway visa only when the student is sure about every course in the sequence. If the second programme is still a maybe, separate applications usually leave more room to change direction.

Other routes cover English-language study, exchanges, scholarships and some dependent children. INZ lists them under visas for studying in New Zealand.

How much money you need, and how to show where it came from

Money is where I see the most avoidable problems. INZ wants to see living funds, plus your tuition and a ticket out of New Zealand (or money to buy one):

Prepaid accommodation can reduce the living amount. If you're pregnant, INZ also asks for NZ$9,000 for maternity care, unless you're eligible for publicly funded care.

Tuition is separate. You normally show one course or one year paid, whichever is shorter. For a Pathway visa, you also show how later years will be paid. Use the receipt your provider issues, because INZ doesn't accept education agent receipts or screenshots of bank transfers.

Holding the money is usually the easier part. Most funds problems I see come from students who send many bank statements but never explain where the money came from, or how it will be available to them in New Zealand. Under INZ's student fund requirements, the money must be genuinely available to you while you're here. Deposits over NZ$2,000, or many smaller ones, need an explanation with documents.

What I see go wrong, and how to fix it:

The story behind the money

• Statements with no story. Explain where the money came from, whether salary, a business, long-term savings, a sale or a gift, and back it up with documents. Explain any large recent deposit the same way, because even legitimate money raises questions when nobody explains it.
• Borrowed money parked briefly. Money a relative moved in a few weeks ago, with no clear link to you, looks as if it was put there only for the application. Explain who they are, why they're helping and how long the money has been there.
• The same money called a gift in one document and a loan in another. Describe each sum the same way everywhere.

Timing and access

• Statements from the wrong time. INZ asks for three months of transaction history. If you've already paid your tuition, your funds evidence should be dated after that payment, so it shows the living money you still have. In my experience, INZ regularly asks for an up-to-date statement before it decides, so keep the money in place until you have a decision.
• Money you can't reach. A fixed-term deposit counts if it has been held for at least three months, but the money must be available to you while you're in New Zealand. If the money sits in a business account or a joint account, explain how it is yours and available to you.
• Money in several countries with no map. Show which account the money is in, how it reaches New Zealand, and when.
• Money held where INZ can't verify it. INZ needs to be able to verify your funds, and how easily it can do that depends on the type of financial institution holding them. If it can't verify yours, it may not accept the money, even if the money is real. If you're not sure INZ can check yours, get advice early. If you need to move the money to an institution INZ can check, do it well before you apply and keep the paper trail, because a recent transfer needs its own explanation.

Loans and sponsors

• A loan with thin paperwork. An education loan can work. INZ expects a sanction letter (the bank's approval) and a disbursal letter (confirming the money has been paid out) from a nationalised or multinational bank, and may ask how you plan to repay it.
• A sponsor's tax return instead of money on hand. Income isn't the same as money available now. A parent or relative overseas signs a financial undertaking (INZ's form for an overseas supporter, INZ 1014) and shows funds that are their own and not borrowed.
• A sponsor who doesn't fit. A sponsor in New Zealand must be a New Zealand citizen, or a resident whose visa has no conditions other than travel conditions, and must usually live here. They must genuinely intend to support you and can't sponsor you for a fee or reward. A sponsoring organisation must be registered in New Zealand, have a clear link to your reason for coming, and not be in receivership or liquidation.

Before you apply, write your funds story in plain language: who is paying, where the money came from, where it sits now, and how it will reach you each year. When I review a file, I read that story before I check the statements. If it already answers those questions, the statements become proof instead of a puzzle. If you struggle to explain it simply, an immigration officer will probably struggle to follow it too.

What INZ needs to believe about your plans

INZ assesses whether you genuinely intend to study. Be ready to explain why this course, this provider and New Zealand fit your background, how you're paying, and what you plan to do afterwards. If you're already studying here, INZ will ask about your attendance and progress when you apply for your next visa. Your explanation and your documents need to agree with each other.

The study plans I see questioned most involve a change of field or a step down in study level with no explanation, for example an engineering graduate enrolling in a level 4 cookery certificate. Two honest sentences on why this course fits you now do more than a page of general ambition.

Be honest about longer-term plans. If you plan to apply for another visa after your studies, declare it. INZ says this won't be viewed negatively, but you must leave if you can't get another visa.

If another country has refused you a visa, provide the refusal letter, or a letter explaining the refusal if you don't have the original. INZ's guidance on genuine intentions to study covers both points.

What to prepare

Start collecting these documents early. The final list depends on your visa and your situation.

• Identity: passport, photo and current immigration status.
• Study: offer of place, course dates and provider details.
• Money: tuition evidence, living funds and the documents that explain their source.
• Your explanation: why this study, your education history and any English-language evidence if required.
• Health and character: a chest X-ray or medical certificate if required (this depends on your citizenship, where you've lived and how long you'll stay), and police certificates if required.
• Already studying: attendance and progress records.
• Family coming too: each person's visa route and relationship evidence.

Order police certificates early. You generally need them if you're 17 or older and your total time in New Zealand, including earlier visits, will reach 24 months. They must come from each country of citizenship and any country you've lived in for more than five years since turning 17, and be less than six months old when you apply.

INZ now requires the certificates with your application. A receipt showing you've applied for one isn't accepted, except for Fiji, Hong Kong and Israel, where the authority sends the certificate to INZ directly. Missing certificates can lead to a decline or a shorter visa. The Fee Paying Student Visa page explains the exceptions.

Working while you study

If your course qualifies, you can work up to 25 hours a week during term. Some courses also allow full-time work in scheduled holidays. You must be 16 or older, and your work rights must appear in your visa conditions (on your eVisa, your digital visa record). PhD students, and research master's students whose research component is 90 credits or more, have no weekly limit while studying full-time.

If your visa was granted before 3 November 2025 with a 20-hour limit, you can apply for a variation of conditions (a formal change to your visa), or for a new student visa, to move to 25 hours. Until then, your current conditions apply. You must work for an employer under an employment agreement, because students can't be self-employed. See INZ's rules for working on a student visa.

Build your budget without counting on a job in the first weeks.

If you want to stay after study: the realistic routes

If you hope to work here after you graduate, check whether your course can lead to a Post-Study Work Visa before you enrol. Not every qualification does, and a course's marketing doesn't settle the question. Treat the course, the visa and any later work or residence application as separate decisions. A course can still be right for you if it won't lead to residence, as long as you know that before you start.

Before a student applies, I ask for the exact qualification title and level from the offer letter and check it against INZ's list myself, because the course name in a brochure isn't always the qualification INZ will assess.

A Post-Study Work Visa lets eligible graduates stay and work for up to three years, depending on what they studied. You need a degree at level 7 or higher (bachelor's level or above), or a non-degree qualification on INZ's eligible list, studied full-time in New Zealand. You can only have this visa once. Apply no later than three months after your student visa expires, or six months for a doctoral degree. Degree holders can work in any job. Non-degree graduates must work in a job related to their study.

A Post-Study Work Visa can lead to residence, but residence has its own requirements. The Skilled Migrant Category, for example, asks for a job or job offer with an accredited employer. You also need to qualify through one of its pathways (for example, enough points from qualifications or pay, or enough skilled work experience), meet the English requirement, and be 55 or under. A New Zealand qualification alone won't get you there. My residence pathways guide explains the main routes.

INZ has announced two new options from 16 November 2026. Some level 7 graduate diplomas will qualify for a Post-Study Work Visa if you already hold a bachelor's degree. A new six-month Short-Term Graduate Work Visa will cover some level 5 to 7 graduates who don't qualify for a Post-Study Work Visa. Neither is available yet. If either one affects your course choice, check INZ's Post-Study Work Visa page first.

Plan your next step well before your student visa expires. Finishing your course doesn't give you permission to stay.

Bringing your partner or children

Whatever you study, you can support visitor visas for your partner and dependent children.

Your partner may be able to get a Partner of a Student Work Visa if you're studying:

• a level 9 or 10 qualification (a master's or doctorate); or
• a level 7 or 8 qualification on INZ's Post-Study Work Visa list, or one required for a role on the Green List (INZ's list of hard-to-fill jobs).

You both need to be 18 or older and living together in a genuine and stable relationship.

Your children may be able to get a Dependent Child Student Visa if they're 19 or younger and at primary or secondary school. This route is open when you're doing a PhD at a New Zealand university, studying on a Government-approved exchange, or holding a Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship. If your partner holds a Partner of a Student Work Visa, your children may also be able to study, through the route for children of work visa holders. INZ says these children may be treated as domestic students, which means no school fees, so confirm with the school before you budget. INZ's guide to bringing family on a student visa has the details.

Timing, and changing your plans

If you're applying from overseas, INZ strongly recommends applying three months before you travel. Wait times are updated weekly, so treat them as a guide. If INZ grants approval in principle (it's ready to approve once you pay your fees), pay your tuition by the date in its letter.

If you're already here, build your visa expiry into your plan. Changing provider usually needs a new student visa, even for the same course, and a variation can't extend your visa. Don't leave your current course until INZ has approved the change. Part-time study needs a different visa.

When to get advice, and how I help

Plenty of preparation can start on your own, and routine questions can go to your provider or INZ.

Get licensed advice before you act if you have:

• a visa decline you can't explain from the decision letter, or more than one decline;
• unlawful stay, or a deportation or removal history;
• a health or character issue;
• a funds source that's hard to document, or money spread across countries;
• an allegation of false or misleading information, including anything an agent supplied;
• a letter from INZ with a deadline.

If you tell me what you want to study, where you are now, who's coming with you and the dates that matter, I'll ask a few questions to work out whether I can help. That first conversation is free. It isn't advice on your case, and it doesn't commit either of us. If you need licensed advice, we agree on the scope and fee in writing before I advise. If you engage me to represent you, I prepare and submit your application and handle the follow-up with INZ.

Some enquiries only need a pointer to the right INZ page or a word with the provider. When that's the case, I'll say so rather than suggest a paid review.

Your plan, in short: know what you're committing to, write your funds story, check your course against the Post-Study Work Visa rules before you enrol if you hope to stay after study, and start your preparation list now.

Immigration New Zealand decides every application, and I can't guarantee an outcome. But I can work with you on a plan that makes sense before INZ sees it.

Tell me what's happening. Include your proposed course, start date, current visa and any deadline. Please don't send your passport or other sensitive documents with your first message. If INZ has given you a deadline, an enquiry doesn't pause it.

Related: Work visas · Partner and family visas · Residence pathways · Skilled Migrant Category

Figures and rules from Immigration New Zealand, checked 7 October 2026 (money section 10 October 2026). Rules change, and this page is general information, not advice on your situation.