Requirements:
- An offer of place from a New Zealand education provider:
- A copy of the identity pages in your current passport This should be the passport you intend to use to travel to New Zealand on.
- Make sure you have scanned the whole bio-data page and include the machine-readable zone (MRZ) at the bottom of the page.
- Tuition fees evidence Provide evidence you:
- have paid your tuition fees in full for one year or one programme (whichever is shorter), or › have money available to pay your tuition fees if you are outside New Zealand & provider has confirmed this, or
- Evidence you have paid your tuition fees is a receipt of payment or confirmation from your education provider. Screenshots of bank transfers or receipts from education agents are not acceptable.
- Approval in Principle › if you are outside New Zealand when you apply for your visa you can choose to pay your tuition fees after your visa has been approved in principle (AIP).
You must provide a tuition fee receipt after your application has been AIP to have your visa granted. AIP deadlines are usually 5 days. If you need longer, request an extension from the Immigration Officer as soon as possible. If the AIP deadline is missed, the application will likely be declined. › You do not have to use AIP. You can pay your tuition fees up front for faster processing, but you must provide evidence of the source of funds that made the tuition fee payment.
Evidence you have enough money to live on and proof of where this money has come from:
The money must be genuinely available for you to use to pay your living costs while you are in New Zealand and be from a source that we can confirm.
You will need:
- NZD $20,000 per year if you are studying tertiary,
- English language, or other non-school study or NZD $1,667 per month if your study will be shorter than 1 year or
- Accommodation costs, such as homestay, that have been pre-paid to the school can be deducted.
Evidence you have enough money could include:
- Money held by you or on your behalf
- For more information on money and examples of the evidence NZ Authority need, ‘Supporting information/documents’.
- Evidence you have enough money to leave New Zealand Evidence can be a fully paid ticket out of New Zealand or evidence you have enough extra money to buy a ticket.
Supporting information and evidence:
NZ authority strongly recommend you to provide the following supporting information with your visa application. It will help us process your application faster, and will help us to decide if you:
- Are a genuine applicant
- Are not likely to stay in New Zealand for longer than your visa allows
- Are not likely to breach the conditions of your visa
- Will leave New Zealand if you cannot get another visa.
A cover letter or statement of purpose that explains why you want to study in New Zealand and provides information about you. This should be written by you – not your agent or licensed immigration advisor.
It should include:
- An outline of your study plans
- The reasons you chose this education provider and course
- An idea of what you want to do once you have finished your study.
- Be honest, if you want to apply for a different type of visa after study, such as a post study work visa, then declare this. › details of education and training you have completed in the past or are currently studying, including if you have started your course from outside of New Zealand
- Information about what you were doing during any gaps in your recent education or work history. If gaps were due to the pandemic, please explain this.
Information on how you are paying for your study, including:
• a summary of the evidence you are providing with your application and where this money has come from. It must show that this money is genuinely available for you to use while you are in New Zealand.
• an explanation of how you will pay for your future years if you plan to study in New Zealand for longer than one year (we call this a funding plan). Please include evidence to back this up. For example, if parents are supporting future years include their salary and employment information.
If you are supported by a financial guarantor or sponsor, provide evidence of how you are related to them.
While it is not mandatory to provide a cover letter it helps us to assess your application faster. If you do not provide one, NZ authority may not have enough information to determine if you are a genuine applicant.
A copy of each page of your current passport with a visa label, exit stamp, entry stamp, or cancellation stamp on it.
If these are in a previous passport, provide copies from that passport. If your travel has only been recorded electronically
Provide a summary of your international travel history. A copy of any letters you have received for declined visa applications for other countries and the reasons you were declined.
Evidence of having money available:
The money to support your first year of study (or first programme) must be readily available.
For example, cash in bank accounts that you can use to support yourself while in New Zealand. We recommend at least three months of transaction history for bank accounts. You may want to provide longer history (such as six months) to strengthen your financial evidence.
A single source of funds is easier to assess than multiple sources.
Evidence must be in your name or the name of your financial guarantor or sponsor. Do not include evidence that NZ authority cannot confirm as genuine.
Examples of some funds that do not generally meet threshold as genuine and accessible:
- Credit cards
- Cash or photos of cash
- Gold or loans against gold
- Jewellery valuation certificates
- Loans from Non-Financial Banking Corporations/Companies/Institutions or loans from co-operative banks
- Post Office held funds
- Volatility/mutual funds
- Funds from co-operative societies
- Bonds
- Property sales or statements stating a property may be sold to finance study
- Agricultural income
- A bank balance without supporting three-month transaction history
Funds that are more likely to meet requirements:
Bank balance and transaction history of at least three months. You can provide longer if you wish. If your transactions show any large deposits of more than NZD $2,000, or if there are multiple smaller deposits, explain where this money has come from and provide supporting evidence.
If you opened the bank account recently, for example to consolidate your funds into one source for the visa application, explain where this money has come from and provide supporting evidence to show the transfer of money from the original accounts into one account.
Certificates for fixed deposits that have been held for at least three months (if there is longer history, please provide this).
A letter from your employer that confirms the position you held, the length of your employment, and your salary/wage or that of your financial guarantor/sponsor.
Tax returns showing income earned.
Recent business tax returns and bank statements if you are self-employed.
Evidence that shows you own any assets you get income from, like a rental property – such as tax payments or income.
Public and employee provident fund accounts are acceptable as evidence, but only if they are supported by documents confirming employment.
An education loan sanction letter from a nationalized or multi-national bank.
In some cases, an Immigration Officer may request information from you as part of their assessment that is not detailed in this sheet. They are not obliged to do this. Make sure you submit all the information we need to assess your international student visa application.
Please NOTE that convert all documents to two or three PDF’s. All files (supporting documents) need to be no larger than 10MB in size otherwise they will be rejected by our server. Personal statement should be in MS word format.
If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to schedule of appointment for free consultation session with our Immigration Lawyer to assist you.
