2016-Aug 05: Changes to guardian requirements for students

Visa Pak 271: Information for staff about changes to guardian requirements for those on a student visa.

Visa Paks

05 August 2016 

The Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 came into effect on 1 July 2016 and replaced the 2010 Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students. One of the changes was around the need to live with a parent or legal guardian to study in New Zealand.

Under the new Code, international students must live with their parent or legal guardian if any of the circumstances below apply:

  • student is aged under 10 years old and will not be living in a school hostel
  • student is aged between 10 and 17 years old and there is no residential caregiver.
    The Code defines residential caregiver as any one of the following:
  • a homestay carer
  • a licensed hostel manager or other person responsible for the care of international students in a licensed hostel
  • a designated caregiver
  • a supervisor (in the case of temporary accommodation).

Assessing student visa applications for students under 18

Changes to the Code do not currently align with instruction U3.30, which states that students enrolled in Years 1 to 8 and students aged 13 and under will only be granted a student visa if they live with their parent or legal guardian unless they are one of the following:

  • domestic students
  • enrolled in a school hostel approved by the Code Administrator
  • enrolled in Years 7 or 8 of a school, or aged 11 to 13 years and enrolled in any other provider, which has prior programme approval from the Code Administrator.

Immigration instruction changes to update U3.30 are underway and scheduled for August.

Meeting accommodation requirements

Immigration officers do not need to verify that students aged between 10 and 17 years old have a residential caregiver that meets the definition provided above. The responsibility is on the education provider to ensure that the student will be under the care of a residential caregiver before they enrol the student and issue an offer of place. However, a statement from the education provider confirming that the student’s accommodation meets Code requirements must be sighted as per U3.15.

Contacts tab in AMS

AMS changes will take place at the next available opportunity. Until this happens, the education provider should be listed as the guardian in the Contacts tab.