This page contains branch-specific information, and answers frequently-asked questions, for Filipino nationals and other nationals residing in the Philippines, wishing to study in New Zealand.
These can be found on the Immigration New Zealand website on the Forms and Guides page.
The requirements are outlined below as well as on our student visa checklist PDF [67KB].
You will be notified within 48 hours via an automatic email of acknowledgement of your application. Subsequently you will be notified within 10 working days of lodgement via email by your case officer.
If you clearly meet one of the published positive student profiles, and your documents are all complete, you can expect your application to be finalised within 20 working days.
Your medical certificates may need to be forwarded to a Medical Assessor in New Zealand, or you may have sent in incomplete supporting documents, or there may be delays in making satisfactory verification of documents, or concerns noted in the application that require your comment.
Yes. We recommend you also include a photocopy of all your original supporting documents as well. We will return the original documents once your application has been decided on.
Yes. Ideally you should submit your passport at lodgement however if it’s not readily available, we require a copy of the biodata page be submitted at lodgement and indicate in your cover letter why you cannot submit your passport. You will need to provide your original passport once your application has been approved so it can be endorsed with a visa.
Yes, see our Manila positive student profiles DOC [58KB].
These are just guidelines of a positive profile that potential students can use as reference to gauge a likelihood of their application’s success. The closer you are to matching a positive profile, the more likely it is that you may be approved. We will still thoroughly assess an application in line with current student instructions. However in your cover letter, you should outline how you meet a certain profile, which will aide the timely assessment of your application.
Applicants that meet the positive student profiles can expect processing to be completed within 20 working days, if all evidence submitted at lodgement is satisfactory. Visa Officers will notify applicants if there is a delay or need for additional information within 10 days upon lodgement.
Note: The main delay for applicants who are not applying under the Funds Transfer Scheme is often due to the lack of satisfactory financial evidence submitted which can confirm how the applicant (or their immediate family) has earned and maintained the funds to be used in support of their study plan.
All applicants, upon INZ Manila accepting their applications, are now automatically notified by email of their client and application number. Please ensure these email details are clearly and correctly declared in application forms.
Please see the student visa checklist.
Bank certificates with a signed authorization to allow INZ Manila to verify history and stability of savings or bank statements for the last six months or any other financial documents to show availability of funds. Fund must be able to evidence a genuinely earnt source of income.
No. We required clients/guarantors to present evidence that will establish the funds’ source, stability and history.
Yes. We conduct verification of documents submitted by applicants.
Not necessarily. Funds are only one factor that is taken into consideration in the assessment of a student visa application.
Student visa applicants must submit evidence that they have sufficient funds available for maintenance for the duration of their course in New Zealand. See Instructions U3.20.
It can be completed by a person who is in the applicant’s home country, in New Zealand or in a third country. However INZ Manila encourages applicants that the Financial Undertaking form be completed by an immediate family as they are logical financial sponsors of an applicant’s study.
Not completely. The FTS model is designed for student visa applicants at INZ Manila who are required to demonstrate financial ability as per immigration instruction U3.20. Though it aides a faster assessment of one’s financial ability, it does not answer other issues with regards to a student’s bona fides.
If you intend to study for longer than 12 months, you need to show that you have the ability to pay for your ongoing studies and living expenses for the duration of your studies. You will need to provide evidence to show that you or your family members have the income and/or assets to pay for your tuition fees and your stay in New Zealand.
Six to eight weeks from the time your document has been dispatched to New Zealand. INZ Manila sends the medical certificates every Friday and receives the assessed certificates from the Medical Assessor in New Zealand every Thursday.
Yes. You or your contact person will either receive an email or a call from your immigration officer.
You are required to submit an NBI clearance only. All NBI clearance should be at least six (6) months old at the time the application is lodged.
No. Only those aged 17 and over applying for temporary entry class visas or intending to stay in New Zealand for 24 months or longer are required to submit a NBI clearance or police certificates from other countries.
Applicants aged 17 and over applying for a temporary entry class visa must obtain a police or similar certificate from their country of citizenship; and from any country in which they have lived for five or more years (whether on one visit or intermittently) since attaining the age of 17 years.
In most cases, the length of the visa depends on the length of your course.However, certain personal circumstances may affect the length of your visa as well. Most common one is your passport expiry date – we cannot grant a visa which is beyond the expiry date of your passport. Your student visa will have to expire before your passport does. Therefore, if you are in this situation, you will have to renew your passport and then apply for a new student visa, if you wish to continue studying.
Yes. International students now have more opportunities to gain work experience while studying. It may also be possible for students to work in New Zealand after they have completed their studies.
Students are allowed to work for 20 hours per week and during holidays within the academic year as long as they are undertaking a full-time course of study in New Zealand (see Instructions U7.15.5). Usually this refers to NZQA Level 5 or higher diploma courses.
If you are already in New Zealand and you believe you meet any of the listed circumstances in which you can undertake work while studying (available on our Student Visa page), but your student visa does not have a condition in it allowing you to work, you may apply for a Variation of Conditions via your nearest onshore office.
Yes. If you wish to attend a different course or a different institute than the one your student visa is granted for, you must apply for a Variation of Conditions on your visa first. Please note that this process will not change the expiry date on your current visa. If your visa will be expiring soon, you may prefer to apply for a whole new student visa instead.
For more information about Variation of Conditions please refer to student page of the Immigration website and Instructions U7.5.
Dependent children of work visa holders may be granted student visa unless the work visa holder has been granted under any of the following categories:
Dependent children include:
No, if you are applying for a student visa as a dependent child of long term visa worker, submission of evidence of enrolment is not required.
Dependent children of holders of work visas granted under the Essential Skills work instructions after 30 November 2009.
However, dependent children are not required to be assessed against the Essential Skills minimum income threshold if their parent/s:
The minimum income threshold is $33,675 gross per annum and must be met and maintained wholly by the salary or wages of a parent or parents holding an Essential Skills work visa.
Domestic students.
The following are considered to be domestic students for the purposes of attending primary and secondary schools and are exempt from paying foreign course fees(See Instructions U3.35.5):
No, only the following applicants who are attending an educational provider in the tertiary sector are considered as domestic students and are exempt from paying foreign course fees for foreign students (See Instructions U3.35.20):
Yes, if you have a residence class visa application which is already under consideration in New Zealand.
No, if you do not have any residence application under consideration and since your course is already at the tertiary level, you must apply under full-fee paying category.
As per Instructions U3.30, a legal guardian is the person with legal right and responsibility to provide for the care of an international student and provides for the care of the student in the student’s home country. This includes adoptive parents, court-appointed guardian or testamentary guardian.
A parent can name a person in their will to be a guardian if that parent dies. This person is known as a testamentary guardian. A testamentary guardian does not have the right to custody of the child but they do have the right (along with any other guardian if alive) to control the upbringing of the child or children under their guardianship. The role of the testamentary guardian does not include the financial support of a child.
Students enrolled in Years 1 to 8 and students aged 13 years and under who are enrolled in any other provider will be given a visa if they will be living with their legal guardian in New Zealand, unless
All visas granted under these instructions are subject to the condition that the holder live with their legal guardian (see U3.30.1) in New Zealand, unless the student visa holder has been granted a variation of conditions under U7.25.
