Apply for this visa to study full-time in New Zealand. You will need to pay the full cost of your courses and enrol with an approved education provider.
Study full-time at the course stated on your visa – this includes schools, tertiary (study after secondary school) and English language study. Student visa conditions require you to attend the place of study endorsed on your visa.
Work part-time up to 20 hours a week while studying or full-time in the holidays, depending on your visa conditions.
Live by yourself above a certain age, otherwise you will need to come with your parent or legal guardian.
Things to note
If you want to bring your partner or children with you, they can apply for visas based on their relationship to you.
Your Student Visa is normally for the same length of time as the study you have paid for.
You can apply for this visa if you’re a distance learning or correspondence student who is studying outside New Zealand and you need to visit New Zealand for more than 3 months to attend your education provider, for example to do practical study or sit exams.
Your ability to speak or write English is not a requirement for student visa applications. Check with your education provider to see if it is requirement for an offer of a place on a course.
Apply for this visa to study full-time in New Zealand. You will need to pay the full cost of your courses and enrol with an approved education provider.
If you submit a paper application, provide your original passport or a certified copy. We can usually process your application faster if you provide your original passport.
If you apply online, you must upload a copy of your passport when you apply. We will let you know if you need to send your passport after you've applied.
You may need to provide police certificates as proof of your good character.
If you are aged 17 and over, and will stay in New Zealand for more than 24 months (this includes any time you have already spent in New Zealand), you must provide police certificates from:
your country(s) of citizenship
any country(s) you've spent more than 5 years in since turning 17.
You do not need to provide police certificates if:
you have provided them to us with an earlier visa application, and they were issued in the previous 36 months, or
you are under 20 years of age and have held a student visa (or consecutive student visas) on and since the date you turned 17 and are applying for a further student visa.
You must provide evidence that you have paid the tuition fees for 1 course or 1 year of study (whichever is shorter).
Evidence can include any one of the following:
Letter from your approved education provider showing fees are paid or that you don’t have to pay fees
Evidence that your home country government loan has been applied for, and confirmation from the education provider they expect to receive the fees
Evidence you’ve applied for a home country government loan and confirmation that you’re enrolling in a bachelor degree programme or higher at a Private Training Establishment (PTE)
Evidence you have a scholarship from your education provider.
For applications processed outside New Zealand, evidence of payment isn’t required until after the application has been approved in principle.
If you study multiple courses, or a single course for more than one year, you must provide evidence you have enough money to pay tuition fees for 1 course or 1 year of study, and also how you will pay your tuition fees for subsequent years.
Medical and travel insurance
You must have full medical and travel insurance for the length of your stay
You must declare in your visa application that you agree to arrange and hold insurance.
Your insurance policy must cover you from the date that you arrive in New Zealand until the day you leave.
Your insurance policy must cover all of the following:
travel (this includes travel to and from New Zealand, within New Zealand, and outside New Zealand if travelling as part of the course)
medical care in New Zealand, including diagnosis, prescription, surgery, and hospitalisation
the transportation out of New Zealand as a result of serious illness or injury, including cover of travel costs incurred by family members assisting the student
death (including cover of the travel costs of family members to and from New Zealand, costs of repatriation, and funeral expenses).
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students don’t need to hold insurance.
You can arrange insurance through your education provider. If you are arranging your own insurance, your education provider can give you more information about what your policy must cover.
Already have a Student Visa
You must be able to show that you’re passing your course and meeting your attendance requirements
If you already have a Student Visa and you’re applying for another Student Visa, you must provide photocopied evidence of your previous student performance, progress and attendance. This can include:
proof that you have NZD $20,000 per year of tertiary, English language, or other non-compulsory school study or $1,667 per month if your study will be shorter than 1 year. If you are studying in compulsory education (years 1-13 at a school), you will need NZD $17,000 per year or $1,417 per month
documents that show your living costs have been paid — for example, for a school homestay where you will live with a local family while you study
a 'Sponsorship Form for Temporary Entry' completed by an acceptable sponsor
a completed 'Financial Undertaking for a Student' form.
The only evidence you must provide is a written guarantee of maintenance from a relative in New Zealand. This relative must be a New Zealand citizen or resident.
You may be able to use the Funds Transfer Scheme to show that you will be able to access your funds in New Zealand.
If you’re applying in South Asia, only immediate family are able to sponsor you or provide a financial undertaking. Immediate family are your partner, parents, siblings, grandparents and parents-in-law.
If you are in New Zealand and applying for a further student visa as a fee paying tertiary student, you can only be sponsored if your first student visa was sponsored.
Sponsorship must be by the same person or organisation that acted as the sponsor for your initial visa application.
If you study for more than 1 year, you must provide evidence you have enough money to support yourself for your first year and show how you will pay your living costs for the following years.
Evidence of how you will pay for the following years must be money you can access while you are in New Zealand such as savings or family income.
Depending on what city you live in while you are in New Zealand, you might need more than NZD $17,000 per year (NZD $1,417 per month) to live on while you are studying.
If you must be accompanied, you must provide proof that your parent or legal guardian cares for you in your home country and has the legal right to provide care for you.
Evidence your parent or legal guardian cares for you in your home country can include:
your parent or guardian’s passport, or residence document showing that you’ve been living with them in your home country
documents that show they’ve paid for your education
educational records or documents that show they’re responsible for your education
Evidence your parent or legal guardian has the legal right to provide care for you can include:
your birth certificate or adoption papers (if they are your parent)
court documents (if they are a court-appointed guardian)
relevant legal documents if they are a testamentary guardian (i.e. they were named as guardian in your parents’ will, and your parents are deceased).
Your parent or legal guardian must apply separately for the type of visa they need.
If you have to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, you must live with that person while you’re studying.
You should provide copies of identity cards for family members included in your application.
You should provide copies of family members Hukou (household registration book) included in your application.
Permission to work
If you're aged 16 or 17, or in years 12 or 13 of secondary school, you must have written permission to work
If you’re 18 or over, you don’t need permission to work over the summer holidays. We won’t grant work rights to children under 16 who have a Student Visa.
Full-time vacation work rights
You must provide information about your holidays and your course
that your course value is 120 credits – this information may be on your fee receipt or invoice, or other correspondence provided by your approved education provider.
Practical experience (optional)
If you’re required to do practical work experience as part of your course, you must provide evidence that it’s a course requirement
The information below will help you understand the process, timeframes and costs involved in applying for this visa, so you can plan ahead and have the best chance of submitting a complete application.
These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa.
Entry permission
You must apply for entry permission when you arrive in New Zealand. You can do this by completing an arrival card, which you are given on the way to New Zealand.
If you’re applying from inside New Zealand, we’ll normally give you multiple entry travel conditions when we grant you this visa.
If you don’t have multiple entry travel conditions and you leave New Zealand, your visa will expire.
Your travel conditions will be recorded on your visa label or in your visa letter.
Onward travel
During the length of your visa, you must have a travel ticket or funds available to buy a ticket to a country you can enter. The funds can be in the form of any of the following:
sufficient funds held in New Zealand to purchase a travel ticket
an acceptable form of financial undertaking by your guarantor
If your visa doesn’t record that you’re sponsored or state that a return/onward ticket isn’t required, you may be asked for evidence of your travel arrangements when you check in or arrive in New Zealand.
Funds or sponsorship
You must have enough money held in New Zealand to support yourself for the length of your visa.
If you’re sponsored, your sponsor must:
ensure your needs for maintenance are met while you’re in New Zealand
pay any costs if we ask you to leave New Zealand.
If you have a guarantor, your guarantor must ensure your need for maintenance is met while you’re in New Zealand.
If your visa label or letter doesn’t say ‘Financial evidence not required’ or ‘The holder of this visa is sponsored’, we may ask for evidence of funds when you arrive in New Zealand.
Medical and travel insurance
You must maintain your medical and travel insurance policy while you're studying in New Zealand, from the time you enrol until your visa expires.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students don’t need to have insurance.
If you’re required to be accompanied, your parent or legal guardian must live with you while you’re studying and they can’t leave New Zealand without you.
Attendance and progress
You must study full-time and attend your course at the approved education provider noted on your visa, unless you have a reasonable excuse for absences.
You must make satisfactory progress on your course.
Visa expiry
You must leave New Zealand before your visa expires.
Visa expiry dates are printed on a visa label or included in a visa letter.
