U14.5 Requirements to be granted a pathway student visa

To be granted a pathway student visa, an applicant must:

1. be offered an eligible study pathway from a qualifying provider(s) (U14.20); and
2. meet the general requirements to be granted a student visa as set out at U3.1; and
3. meet the additional evidential requirements for pathway student visa set out at U14.5.1.

U14.5.1 Evidence of meeting requirements

1. In addition to meeting the general requirements to be granted a student visa as set out at U3.1, when applying for a pathway student visa an applicant must provide:
   1. where there is more than one education provider, a joint letter of support from pathway education providers; and
   2. an offer of place (or joint offer) for each programme of study that meets the requirements set out at U3.5; and
   3. evidence that tuition fee requirements, as set out at U3.10, for either the first programme of study or first year of study (whichever is shorter) have been met and satisfy an immigration officer that they have the ability to fund any remaining balance of the first programme of study and subsequent programmes of study on the intended pathway; and
   4. evidence that the maintenance funds requirements set out in U3.20 for the first year of study on the intended pathway have been met and satisfy an immigration officer that they have the ability to fund any remaining balance of the first programme of study and subsequent programmes of study on the intended pathway.
2. Despite (a)(ii), second and subsequent offers of place for a pathway can be conditional on meeting pre-requisite programme of study entry criteria.
3. Pathway student visa applicants from a country with a student visa decline rate of more than 20 per cent who intend a study pathway commencing with an English language programme of study and culminating in a qualification at Levels 5 to 8 on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework must:
   1. submit an International English Language Testing System test (IELTS) (or equivalent internationally recognised proficiency test) at the time of application; and
   2. demonstrate that they only require an improvement of 0.5 of an IELTS overall band score (or equivalent) to meet the English language prerequisite for entry into the intended level 5 to 8 programme of study.

Note: The student visa decline rate for a country is based on statistics, generated over a calendar year (12 months), by Immigration New Zealand. The decline rate and the name of the country are published on the INZ website.

For the purpose of this instruction, the internationally recognised English language tests and corresponding IELTS equivalent test scores set out on the INZ website are considered acceptable.

Effective 24/11/2019