A Fee Paying Student Visa costs from NZD $850, INZ decides 80% within 8.5 weeks, and tertiary students must show NZD $20,000 a year in living funds. The questions applicants actually ask: proof of funds, declines, work hours, and bringing family.
Written by Inder Singh, Principal Adviser & Founder and Licensed Immigration Adviser (IAA Licence 201301110).
A New Zealand Fee Paying Student Visa costs from NZD $850, Immigration New Zealand decides 80% of applications within 8.5 weeks, and it can cover a stay of up to 4 years (immigration.govt.nz). Beyond an offer of place from an approved provider, the application turns on three things: showing enough money, satisfying INZ that you are a genuine student, and getting the timing right against your intake date.
This page answers the questions international students actually ask, drawn from the online communities where applicants compare notes while they wait. Figures are current as at 28 August 2026; fees, funds thresholds and processing times change, so confirm each one on the INZ page linked at the claim.
INZ’s published service standard for the Fee Paying Student Visa is 80% of applications decided within 8.5 weeks (immigration.govt.nz). Around intake peaks it can run longer, and an application that needs further checks or a request for more information sits outside the standard entirely.
The practical rule: apply as soon as you hold your offer of place, not when the intake date starts to feel close. A “third party checks” or “further assessment” status is part of normal processing, not a verdict, but no amount of calling INZ compresses it; our guide to INZ application statuses explains what each stage means. If the decision genuinely cannot arrive before your course starts, talk to your education provider about moving to the next intake before the current offer lapses; INZ assesses your application against the offer of place it holds, so a changed intake needs an updated offer.
You must show funds to live on for the time you will study, on top of tuition (immigration.govt.nz):
| Study level | Funds required (from 2026) |
|---|---|
| Tertiary, English language and other non-compulsory study | NZD $20,000 per year, or NZD $1,667 per month for courses under a year |
| School (compulsory education) | NZD $17,000 per year, or NZD $1,417 per month |
An acceptable sponsor or a completed Financial Undertaking for a Student (INZ 1014) can stand in for funds held in your own name. The amounts are minimums for the visa, not a budget; most students in Auckland spend more.
This is where more student visa applications struggle than anywhere else. INZ is not only counting the balance; it is asking whether the money is really available to you for your study. Funds that appeared in the account recently need a documented source: sale records, a loan agreement from a recognised lender, a gift deed with the giver’s own bank evidence. Money in a parent’s or relative’s account needs their documented consent and their own source evidence, not just a statement showing the balance.
The pattern that draws declines is a large unexplained deposit shortly before the application. If your family raised the money by selling land or gold, or by borrowing, say so and evidence it. An explained source is routine; an unexplained one reads as window dressing.
The recurring decline reasons are consistent: INZ is not satisfied the applicant is a genuine student (the bona fide assessment), the funds evidence fails the genuinely-available test above, the study plan does not hold together against the applicant’s history (long unexplained study gaps, a course below qualifications already held), or previous visa refusals, in any country, were left undeclared. Health and character requirements sit behind all of it: a chest X-ray is needed for stays over 6 months from most countries, and police certificates where you are 17 or older and staying 24 months or more (immigration.govt.nz).
A decline letter states its reasons. Read them as the checklist for what has to change before any new attempt.
Yes. A declined student visa is not a ban, and there is no stand-down period. But a reapplication that does not answer the stated decline reasons usually meets the same outcome, and every future application form will ask about the refusal, so the record follows you. Strengthen the specific weakness: new funds evidence with source documents, a statement of purpose that explains the study gap or course choice, disclosure of every previous refusal. Our guide to options after a decline covers the decision between reapplying and other pathways.
Student visas granted from 3 November 2025 allow up to 25 hours of work a week during study; visas granted earlier carry a 20 hour limit unless you apply to vary it (immigration.govt.nz). Full-time work is allowed during scheduled breaks, and a break only counts as scheduled if you are returning to study with the same provider afterwards.
Two traps to avoid. Finishing your course does not convert the visa into a work visa: full-time work normally begins when a Post-Study Work Visa is granted. And if your student visa expires while a work visa application waits, the interim visa you move onto normally carries visitor conditions, which means no work at all until the new visa is decided (immigration.govt.nz).
It depends on what you are studying. Your partner can apply for a Partner of a Student Work Visa, with broad work rights, only if you are studying a level 9 or 10 qualification (master’s or doctorate), or an eligible level 7 or 8 qualification, one specified for a Green List job or on the Post Study Work Visa list (immigration.govt.nz). Outside those categories, a partner generally looks at a visitor visa in their own right, without work rights.
Children apply separately as dependents: a dependent child student visa for school-age children, a visitor visa for younger ones. Where your partner holds a Partner of a Student Work Visa, your school-age children are treated as domestic students and do not pay international school fees (immigration.govt.nz). Funds requirements apply per family member, so the maintenance evidence grows with the application. Our dependent child visas guide sets out the child-side detail.
AIP means approval in principle. Applying from outside New Zealand, you can lodge the visa application before paying tuition; INZ assesses it, and if satisfied issues an AIP letter asking you to pay the fees for at least the first year of study. You send the receipt, and the visa is granted. Deferring payment this way protects you from paying a provider before knowing the visa outcome, at the cost of some extra processing time (immigration.govt.nz). Keep every fee receipt; the refund conversation with a provider is far harder without them.
Plenty of straightforward student visa applications succeed without professional help. Where a case has a complication (a previous refusal, funds with a difficult paper trail, a study gap, family included), advice earns its fee.
Who may give that advice is regulated. New Zealand immigration advice must come from an adviser licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority or a person exempt from licensing; the main exemption relevant to students covers offshore agents advising on student visas only, so an offshore agency handling your student visa lawfully cannot also advise on your post-study work or residence plans. Be wary of anyone selling guaranteed placements, padding tuition with undisclosed commissions, or pushing loans arranged through the agency. A fee quoted in writing, an agreement stating the scope, and receipts for every payment are the minimum to insist on. Our adviser vs lawyer guide explains who may lawfully advise you and how to check the registers.
INZ decides 80% of Fee Paying Student Visa applications within 8.5 weeks, and peak intake periods can push that out. Apply as soon as you hold your offer of place, and if the decision cannot arrive before your course starts, arrange a new intake with your provider so INZ has a current offer to assess against. Confirm the live processing time on immigration.govt.nz.
Tertiary and English language students must show NZD $20,000 for each year of study, or NZD $1,667 per month for shorter courses. School students need NZD $17,000 a year or NZD $1,417 a month. These are the 2026 maintenance figures, on top of tuition, and an acceptable sponsor or a Financial Undertaking for a Student (INZ 1014) can stand in for funds in your own name.
The recurring reasons are the genuine student (bona fide) assessment, funds that are not shown to be genuinely available, a study plan that does not fit the applicant’s history, and undeclared previous refusals from any country. The decline letter states its reasons, and a reapplication that answers them with new evidence is treated on its merits; one that repeats the first application usually repeats the outcome.
Up to 25 hours a week during study on visas granted from 3 November 2025, and 20 hours on visas granted earlier unless varied, plus full-time work during scheduled breaks. Finishing your course does not itself give full-time work rights; those normally begin when a Post-Study Work Visa is granted.
Only if your study supports it. A Partner of a Student Work Visa is available when you study a level 9 or 10 qualification, or an eligible level 7 or 8 qualification specified for a Green List job or on the Post Study Work Visa list. Otherwise your partner generally needs a visitor visa in their own right, without work rights.
AIP is approval in principle. INZ assesses your application before you pay tuition, then the AIP letter asks you to pay the first year’s fees; you provide the receipt and the visa is granted. It protects offshore applicants from paying a provider before the visa outcome is known, and adds some processing time.
If you are studying a planned sequence of linked courses with one provider, the Pathway Student Visa may cover up to three programmes on a single visa. For what comes after study, see the Post-Study Work Visa guide, and note the new Short-term Graduate Work Visa from 16 November 2026 for Level 5 to 7 graduates who miss PSWV eligibility.
Current as at 28 August 2026, based on Immigration New Zealand policy. For advice on your own situation, talk to a ProVisas Licensed Immigration Adviser (IAA Licence 201301110).
Last reviewed . Information may have changed since this article was reviewed. For your specific case, talk to a licensed immigration adviser.
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