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Showing 10 of 1954 results for NARSC 2016 conference registration fees student pre advance late July 2016
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Around the world in five
United Kingdom
UK: student visas down as dependent applications plummet
The UK Home Office has published data showing a large decline in student dependent applications since new legislation was introduced at the beginning of this year, as well as a fall in student visa applications.Australia
The Australian government has announced a legislative package with a series of new measures for the country’s international education sector. The measures include a cap on new international student enrolments, a prohibition on education providers holding ownership positions in education agencies, a ban on agent commissions for onshore student transfers, and more stringent oversight of education providers and agents alike.
India
Record immigration is colliding with housing crises across the world
India Times is reporting that countries like Canada and Australia are reevaluating their immigration policies to address the pressures on housing affordability and sustain economic growth.
United States
Agents worried over high US visa rejections for African students
International education actors in Africa are uniting with their US partners and activists to call on the study destination’s government to ‘rethink’ visa policies for African students.
SEA
Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand rise in THE Asia rankings
India has overtaken China as the second-most represented country in the Times Higher Education Asia University rankings 2024, with 91 universities compared with the neighbouring nation’s 86 institutions.
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Immigration New Zealand update
India delegation
Alison McDonald, Head of Immigration, joined ENZ Chief Executive Amanda Malu as part of the Prime Minister’s official delegation to India. Celia Coombes, Director Visa at Immigration New Zealand, responsible for the student visa product, joined Amanda and Ben Burrowes in India afterwards where they supported the New Zealand delegation at the Asia Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) and met with the New Zealand Education Representatives in India (NZERI), a group of Indian education agents.
“Immigration New Zealand found the trip very valuable and insightful,” says Celia.
“Now we are working on how we can continue to support the growth of the education sector, particularly in India which is such an important market for New Zealand, and what needs to be done to support more applications being approved.”
New local points of contact in India and China
Immigration New Zealand has new Engagement Advisors appointed in New Delhi and Beijing. They will be a local point of contact and working to improve communication within both the education and tourism industry.
Visa processing
INZ is in a strong position for processing student visas, following initiatives put in place to make our processing more efficient. At the end of March 2025, international student visas were being decided in 10 days (two weeks) on average.
On average Te Pūkenga (New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology) applications are being processed within 2.5 weeks, 2 weeks for University applications, 3 weeks for Private Training Establishment applications and 1.5 weeks for school applications.
INZ have already decided more than 20,500 student visa applications so far this year, and approved around 18,000 student visa applications (from 1 Jan – 31 March 2025).
To help with faster visa processing, it is key that all the information and documents needed to decide the application is provided. All the details can be found on our information sheet for students on the INZ website: Student visa information | Immigration New Zealand.
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Auckland Agency Group progresses student well-being initiatives
AAG Chair Isabel Evans, Director of the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Auckland, says more than 60 per cent of international students currently study in Auckland.
“The AAG group was established to build cross-agency government leadership in the Auckland region,” she says.
“We also wanted to ensure that agencies on the ground in Auckland are collaborating effectively.”
Education members of the AAG include the MOE, Education New Zealand (ENZ), New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and Tertiary Education Commission. Other government agencies include New Zealand Police, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ministry of Social Development and Office of Ethnic Communities, Waitemata and Auckland District Health Boards and the Human Rights Commission. Auckland economic growth agency ATEED also plays an important role.
Ms Evans said the AAG was involved in stakeholder engagement in August which contributed to a draft International Student Wellbeing Strategy.
“From this engagement, we identified a number of action areas. Since then, group members have been working on ways to improve the overall international student experience in Auckland, with the potential to roll these out nationally if successful.”
Below are some of the initiatives underway.
- ATEED and NZ Police are working on a refresh of a safety video for international students. While it will be filmed in Auckland, its messaging will apply to students nationally, and should be available from early 2017.
- ATEED is developing an International Student Experience programme in partnership with ENZ and industry partners.
- Several agencies are looking at ways to improve the information available to international students and their families. Students are seeking more information on such topics as the true cost of living, insurance and what it covers, employment rights, health services and New Zealand culture.
- Agencies are also looking at ways to provide more volunteer and internship opportunities for international students. ATEED and MBIE will also launch phase two of their job-ready graduate programme working with ICT grads specifically.
- Several agencies are looking at ways to better support international parents, particularly those accompanying children who are studying at primary school here. These parents can be isolated and lonely. This support can also extend to the homestay parents who host international students.
“These initiatives are a start, and the AAG members are enthusiastically collaborating to make sure that opportunities to enhance the international student experience are progressed,” says Ms Evans.
She says the AAG’s work is aimed to enhance the service that international students receive from their education provider, rather than replacing it.
For further information, please contact ENZ Acting Director, Student Experience, Sahinde Pala at Sahinde.pala@enz.govt.nz.
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Impact of demonetisation on Indian student recruitment
The government has implemented a deadline of 30 December for people to exchange the old currency notes at banks.
In the student recruitment market, key impacts have already been felt:
- There are maximum daily limits for banks to exchange money, which is creating delays in student loan processing for international students, and in Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) ability to verify financial documents and process visas.
- Study abroad has become more expensive but conversely, New Zealand has become relatively more cost effective as the Indian rupee has dropped more against the Euro and USD than the NZD and AUD.
Longer term, the supply of ‘grey money’ to finance significant purchases will be reduced, including for education. This may impact study abroad numbers. However, student loan costs may fall as a reduction in overall money supply (some grey money will not be exchanged) will reduce loan interest rates and inflation. It’s too soon to tell the significance of these impacts, but it’s more likely that rural and agricultural cash-based regions such as the Punjab will be affected.
ENZ’s Regional Director South, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, John Laxon, said the repercussions of this change are still playing out.
“The changes are likely to result in some delays in Indian student applications over the next few months for all countries, while any significant longer-term impacts are still to be worked through,” said Mr Laxon.
“We have provided an update to education agents to keep them informed of New Zealand’s student visa approach. We will monitor visa numbers with INZ and keep education providers updated,” added Laxon.
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What's new in IntelliLab
The visa dashboard has a new look, and now uses valid student visas (VSV) as the lead indicator for student numbers, as VSV is less influenced by external factors such as multiple visas for one student. First time student visas (FSV) is the other key indicator, which reveals the number of new students choosing to study in New Zealand.
More in-depth visa information is now available through IVY, the interactive visa tool. IVY is updated monthly, so users will need to download a new copy each month to access the most up-to-date information.
The interactive enrolments tool TED (The Enrolments Data) has also been updated. You may notice revised student numbers when comparing student nationalities by New Zealand region – this is due to the large number of unfunded PTE and ELS students now being assigned to regions based on their provider’s location. However, the top-line numbers, such as total number of students and students by country, remain unchanged.
We appreciate any feedback you may have – please use the ‘contact us’ button on IntelliLab.
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Around the world in five
US
More international college graduates staying to work in US
The number of international student graduates staying on to work in the US has risen since 2008, with no signs of stopping.
GLOBAL
Bank of Mum & Dad: Global international student funding gap revealed
A new survey shows international students are turning to part-time work and their parents rely on borrowed funds to contribute to their education.
SOUTH AFRICA
English language schools officially recognised by government
English language schools that are members of Education South Africa will be formally recognised by the government, opening the door for students to study English in South Africa with greater regulatory stability and visa certainty.
GERMANY
Germany leads Europe in student social engagement
Germany leads the way in helping students thrive outside class, followed by the UK, Austria and Ireland, according to the European Student Survey by Times Higher Education.
CANADA
Montreal wants its international students to stay
Montreal International has launched a ‘Je Choisis Montreal’ or ‘I choose Montreal’ campaign to help more international students live, work and immigrate to the city.
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Update from Immigration New Zealand
Planning for the next student visa application peak
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is now entering the next peak of student visa applications.
INZ say they are in a good space to process the predicted volume of student visa applications. As part of planning, they have validated their predicted numbers of applications with the sector.
"Thanks to the sector peak bodies who circulated the survey on our behalf, we received 99 responses and now have information on the numbers of offers of place already issued to potential students. This has helped us match our resources to the predicted volume for the peak,” INZ National Manager Education and Tourism Jeannie Melville says.
“The queue of student applications from earlier this year has been cleared in Mumbai. Applications are now being allocated to an Immigration Officer for assessment within ten working days.”
Getting applications in early
INZ strongly recommends potential students continue to submit their applications as early as possible – at least eight weeks ahead of a person’s intended travel date.
However, applications can be submitted up to four months ahead of intended travel.
First time visa application checklist
There is now a checklist available to help people submitting a student visa application for the first time. It provides guidance on what they need to do to ensure they are submitting a decision-ready application, which should reduce the likelihood of it missing information.
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October update from Immigration New Zealand
Update on student visa processing*
Since the borders reopened on 1 August 2022, we have received 7,710 student visa applications from international students outside New Zealand. We have decided 4,885 of these applications with over half of these decisions being made in less than 4 weeks and 95% being made within 7 weeks.
*Figures current as at 17 October 2022.
Submit your student visa application for early 2023 study now
Thank you to everyone who has followed our guidance around waiting to submit applications for a student visa for 2023 study. We now encourage students who are intending to begin their studies in New Zealand in early 2023 (up to the end of March) to submit their applications. If you have all your documents ready (including your offer of place and up to date financial evidence) then apply now to give enough time for your application to be processed before your intended travel date. Follow the checklists on the INZ website Student visa information | Immigration New Zealand for guidance on what to provide with your application.
Sending your passport to INZ
We have changed the rules for when you need to send us your passport. Now, if you are applying for a student visa you only need to send us a high-quality scan of your passport, you will not usually need to send your actual passport to be scanned at a Visa Application Centre (VAC) or an Immigration New Zealand office. This is a temporary measure to help with visa processing. Please note applicants may still receive an automated letter asking for a passport to be submitted. This is not required. We are updating the letter to address this issue.
More information: Sending your passport | Immigration New Zealand
Post-study work visa eligibility
Changes have been made to the Post-Study Work Visa eligibility requirements and visa conditions, to reflect the government decisions announced on 11 May 2022. For more information check the INZ website: New Post Study Work Visa requirements announced | Immigration New Zealand
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February update from Immigration New Zealand
Update on Student visa processing*
Since New Zealand’s international borders reopened in August 2022, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has received 25,471 student visa applications from international students outside of New Zealand. We have decided 17,601 of these applications, with more than half of our decisions made in under four weeks.
*Figures current as at 10pm on 30 January 2023.
We have updated our reporting
INZ is improving the way we publicly report on processing times for different visa categories. We now publish the processing times for applications decided in the previous month, instead of the previous three months.
The website illustrates the median number of days, along with the actual number of days it takes to process 90% of applications. These new metrics give a good indication of what customers can expect, regardless of the complexity of their application.
Check out our updated processing times here: How long it takes to process a visa application | Immigration New Zealand
Apply for visas at least 8 weeks ahead of intended travel date
New Zealand is in the middle of our student processing peak period. You can apply up to three or four months ahead of intended travel if you wish, however please ensure that applications are applied for at a minimum of 8 weeks ahead of intended travel date.
INZ generally processes applications in date order and the course start date is also taken into consideration.
We appreciate that students are keen to have their travel bookings confirmed given the cost of flights and flight route limitations, however INZ recommends that students do not confirm travel bookings until a visa has been granted. If students still wish to book travel ahead of a visa decision, we recommend that they explore flexi travel dates or refundable tickets.
Student visa checklists
The student visa checklist is key to submitting a complete student visa application that has the information we need to make a decision. We update the visa checklists regularly, so be sure to use the web link rather than download the checklist. The first time international students visa checklist was last updated in December 2022.
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NauMai NZ has a brand-new look
We are excited to share that NauMai NZ, ENZ’s student experience digital platform, has undergone a refresh and has a new look and feel, bringing it in line with the wider ENZ brand family. Check out its new look here.
NauMai NZ provides clear, timely information and advice about the things that international students want and need to know - arriving in New Zealand, study and education, health and wellbeing, New Zealand and Māori culture, exploring New Zealand, making friends, safety, money, work, and much more. It links to expert resources where appropriate and is designed to complement information provided by education providers.
NauMai NZ was launched four years ago and since then has had one million page views.
Student Experience Manager, Ross Crosson says the aims and objectives of NauMai NZ have not changed.
“NauMai NZ is still about providing trusted, accurate information to support student wellbeing, bridge the gap between expectation and reality, enable social connection, and improve student experience outcomes. The revamp is about being responsive to the needs of a wider range of students who are studying with New Zealand, not just in New Zealand” he adds.
Alongside the new look, new content has been added including,
- Life on campus (orientation, clubs, student associations)
- How to maximise your experience (goal setting and support options)
- Road safety
- Outdoor safety (including water safety, hiking and tramping, hunting/mahika kai)
- Online study for offshore students
- Global Pathways
“Just as we have over the past four years, we will continue to add new content to NauMai NZ to meet student need and expectation. The site is always evolving and feedback is welcome” Ross says.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Ross, ross.crosson@enz.govt.nz.
