Allocation priorities for student visa applications

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has changed the way they allocate international student visa applications from students in New Zealand, so they have more flexibility and can process these applications more efficiently during the summer processing peak.  

INZ’s allocation priorities change from time to time to reflect current demands and will be posted on their website. You can view these allocation priorities here.  

Tuition fee receipt reminder 

When a student is in New Zealand (onshore) and submits an application for a student visa, it is a requirement to provide a tuition fee receipt with the application at the time of submission. 

The approval in principle process is not available for students who are in New Zealand. Any onshore application should include evidence a student: 

- has paid their tuition fees in full for one year or one programme (whichever is shorter); or 

- that they are exempt from paying tuition fees and their education provider has confirmed this. 

If the receipt is not provided with the application, then it has an impact on the processing and the application takes longer to be processed. For more information, you can find INZ's Student visa application information sheet for continuing international students here. 

International education data  

Every year, INZ publish data on the offshore student visa approval rates and application volumes for education agents by market. They also publish the overseas student visa application decision data broken down by country. 

Updated data for 2024 has now been published: View this data here