Study in New Zealand

Tuition is set per programme by each provider and revised annually, so no national figure is published here. Take it from the fee information on your specific programme page. One national rule does apply to the money, though: for the visa you must be able to show you have paid the tuition for one course or one year of study, whichever is shorter.

Living costs depend far more on the city than on the country, and are often the larger half of the total. Build an estimate from current rent, transport and food figures for the specific city you are considering. Immigration New Zealand separately sets its own financial thresholds for visa applications - take those from the immigration portal, not from any figure quoted elsewhere.

Academic requirements are set per programme by each provider, but two national checks sit above them. Your provider must be an approved signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 before it may enrol international students at all, and your offer of place must carry a declaration, signed by the provider, that it has assessed and is satisfied that the course suits your expectations and that you have the English-language ability and academic capability to pass it. That declaration is a requirement of the visa, not a courtesy, so an offer without it will not carry you through. Verify the provider and the qualification on NZQA's own directory before you pay anything.

Unlike most destinations, the floor is national. NZQA sets the English-language entry requirements for international students through Rule 21 of the Programme Approval, Recognition and Accreditation Rules, and they apply to programmes leading to qualifications at levels 3 to 10 of the framework. Where a programme's own approved requirement is higher than Rule 21, you must meet the higher one. The rule does not apply to English-language programmes themselves, or to programmes taught in a language other than English. A test is not the only acceptable evidence: NZQA also accepts NCEA Level 3 with New Zealand University Entrance, a Cambridge A-level qualification or International Baccalaureate Diploma taught and assessed in English, a degree-level qualification taught in English from a provider in one of a specified list of countries, or prior schooling in one of those countries - five years of secondary education, or all of primary plus at least three years of secondary, with English as the language of instruction. Where a test is used, the outcome must have been achieved in the two years before the programme starts. One current complication is worth checking before you book anything: a new TOEFL iBT format and scoring system launched on 21 January 2026, and because the new scores do not align with NZQA's table, NZQA states they cannot be accepted by non-university tertiary providers for entry to programmes in New Zealand. Tests taken before that date on the old scoring can still be accepted. The required outcomes themselves are in the Appendix to the Rules - take them from there. Checked 2026-09-25.

Start dates are set by each provider and differ between programmes, so there is no single national intake calendar and no national application deadline. What does have a national pattern is visa processing: Immigration New Zealand states that student visa processing is busiest between October and March, and advises applying at least three months before you plan to travel. Work backwards from your programme's own start date and add that margin.

There is no central national admissions service - you apply directly to the provider. The sequence then runs: receive an offer of place carrying the provider's signed declaration, show you have paid the tuition for one course or one year of study whichever is shorter, and apply to Immigration New Zealand for the Fee Paying Student Visa. Two parts of this are unusually forgiving and worth knowing. If you apply from outside New Zealand you may apply on a conditional offer of place: Immigration New Zealand can assess the application and approve it in principle, and you supply the unconditional offer before the visa is finally approved. Applying from outside New Zealand you may also choose not to pay the tuition until you have that approval in principle, at the cost of a longer processing time. Partners and dependent children cannot be included in your application and must apply for their own visas.

Government-linked and provider-run scholarship schemes both exist, and eligibility and value change from year to year. Check the current round on your provider's own pages and on the official New Zealand education portal rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.

Immigration New Zealand states that this visa lets you work part-time up to 25 hours a week while studying, and full-time during scheduled holidays, depending on the conditions written on your own visa. To be granted the full-time-in-holidays right you have to show that your course has a value of 120 credits and when its holidays fall. Students aged 16 or 17 need written permission to work from both a parent or legal guardian and the provider; students aged 15 or younger cannot work on a student visa. Practical work experience that your course requires is additional to those hours, but if work rather than study becomes your main activity you need a work visa instead. Checked 2026-09-25. These conditions are set nationally and do change - check the conditions on your own visa.