The Fee Paying Student Visa is for students accepted by an approved New Zealand education provider who can show tuition and living-cost funding.
Route overview
Fee Paying Student Visa
Typical timeline / duration: Study full-time up to 4 years on Fee Paying Student Visa.
Important notes
Provide an offer of place or confirmation of enrolment from an approved New Zealand education provider, showing the course, length, study format, and scheduled holidays.
Show that tuition has been paid, can be paid, or is covered by a scholarship; the evidence normally covers one course or one year, whichever is shorter.
Show living funds: NZD 20,000 per year or NZD 1,667 per month for tertiary, English-language, or other non-compulsory study; NZD 17,000 per year or NZD 1,417 per month for compulsory education.
Meet the health, character, genuine-study, onward-travel, and medical/travel-insurance requirements, providing X-ray, medical, or police evidence where required.
You must be in good health; depending on the length of stay, nationality, and travel history, Immigration New Zealand may require a chest X-ray, medical examination, or both.
You must be of good character. Applicants aged 17 or older who will spend 24 months or more in New Zealand will generally need police certificates from the relevant countries, if required by the application rules.
You must show a genuine intention to study and evidence that you can leave New Zealand at the end of the stay, such as an onward ticket or funds to buy one.
Work rights are written into the individual visa conditions: where granted, students can generally work up to 25 hours a week during study and full-time in scheduled holidays. Students aged 15 or younger cannot work; 16- and 17-year-olds generally need parent or guardian and provider permission.
Practical work experience required by the course can be additional to the visa work limit, but if work is your main activity you need a work visa.
Scheduled for 16 November 2026, not yet open on 11 October: a one-off six-month Short-Term Graduate Work Visa for graduates with eligible NZQCF Level 5–7 qualifications studied full-time in New Zealand for at least 24 weeks that do not qualify for a Post-Study Work Visa. English-language, foundation and bridging courses are excluded.
The short-term option requires at least NZD 5,000 and an application within three months of the student visa expiring. Prior Post-Study or Short-Term Graduate Work Visa holders are excluded; it cannot be extended and does not permit business ownership or sponsorship of partner work/child dependent-student visas. Health and scholarship-approval conditions also apply.
Also scheduled for 16 November 2026: Post-Study Work Visa eligibility extends to a Level 7 graduate diploma completed full-time in New Zealand for its entire duration, without cross-crediting or recognition of prior learning, plus a bachelor's degree from New Zealand or overseas. The visa may match the study duration up to one year; this is not a work visa for every graduate.
Preparation checklist
Passport, identity documents, photograph, and online application
Offer of place or confirmation of enrolment from the approved provider
Tuition receipt, scholarship, or evidence that tuition can be paid
Living-cost funds, sponsor evidence, or Financial Undertaking for a Student
Medical and travel insurance, plus X-ray, medical, and police evidence where required
Onward ticket or evidence of funds to buy one
Course holiday details and work-permission evidence where full-time holiday work is requested
Before choosing a course for graduate work, compare its qualification level, NZ study duration and eligibility category against the November announcement.