Continuing students in New Zealand
Visa information for continuing international students in New Zealand who have previously studied at the University of Auckland.
Before you start your student visa application
You won't be able to study at the University of Auckland without a valid visa, i.e. you can't study on your school or other institutions' visa. It is also often not permitted to study on a work or visitor visa without a Variation of Conditions approved by Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
Before submitting your application to INZ ensure you have all required documentation. If you submit an incomplete application, it will delay processing.
Submit your visa application before your current visa expires. Allow plenty of time to get your documentation organised and expect for the visa processing to take at least four weeks when submitting a complete application.
It is very important to submit your visa application before your current visa expires, even if you are missing documentation. If this is still the case a few days prior to your visa expiring, you should include a cover letter with your application, explaining your situation.
You must provide a copy of your visa to the University by the first day of term.
Step-by-step: How to apply for your student visa
Step one - Enrol in your courses
- As a continuing student who has studied at the University of Auckland previously you will need to enrol in your courses first.
- You must be enrolled in at least three courses (or a minimum of 45 points) per semester, to be eligible for a student visa.
- An exception to this rule is if you are in your final semester and only have one or two courses left to complete your programme (this rule exception is permitted only once).
- If this is your situation then you can still apply for a student visa but you will be required to submit an additional form with your application. Contact us for more information.
- If you need to apply for a course concession, do so as soon as possible to avoid delays in the enrolment process.
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Step two - Pay your fees
- When your enrolment is complete, pay your fees including the insurance fees
- You need to pay fees for a whole year*.
- Once you have paid, it may take a few days for your payment to be allocated to your tuition fees account depending on the form of payment used.
- After your payment has been allocated you will need to generate a statement/invoice and save a pdf copy to upload with your visa application. The receipt is not sufficient.
- If you are a scholarship recipient, please refer to the Student Visa guide and checklist below for further information.
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*Important notice when applying for a student visa for Semester Two or Quarter Four 2024
Due to enrolments for the 2025 academic year not opening until 1 November 2024, you are only able to enrol in Semester Two/Quarter Four 2024.
Therefore, to meet Immigration New Zealand requirements of paying fees for a whole year, you should:
- Semester Two students: Double the amount of tuition fees you are required to pay for the Semester Two 2024.
- Quarter Four students: Pay triple the amount of tuition fees you are required to pay for Quarter Four 2024.
Please provide a cover letter with your student visa application explaining you cannot enrol in the 2025 academic year yet but have paid the estimated fee and are therefore in credit for 2025. If Semester Two or Quarter Four is your final semester, please note this in your application.
The resulting account credit will be applied towards your 2025 fees once you have enrolled into next year’s course.
Step three - Request a "Confirmation of enrolment" letter
- As a continuing student you have to provide a confirmation of your enrolment.
- To do so you have to request a "Confirmation of current enrolment" letter from the University.
- Allow at least one week for the letter to be generated.
- Do not submit your Offer of place/admission that you received when you started at the University of Auckland as this will be out of date.
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Step four - Evidence of your progress and attendance
- To provide evidence of your academic progress, generate an unofficial transcript through your Student Services Online (SSO) account.
- As the University of Auckland does not record attendance you won’t need to submit an attendance record.
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Step five - Evidence you have enough money to live on
INZ requires you to show evidence that you can support yourself during your studies:
- For a one year enrolment you will need to show evidence that you have funds available of at least NZ$20,000 or NZ$1,667 per month of study.
- Refer to the Student Visa guide and checklist below for further information and for acceptable forms of evidence.
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Step six - Evidence you have enough money to leave New Zealand
- In addition to the funds mentioned in the previous step, you’ll also need to show evidence that you have funds available covering the equivalent of a flexible flight ticket to your home country.
Step seven - Evidence of your health and character
- You may be required to submit a chest x-ray and/or medical certificate with your visa application.
- You may be required to submit a police certificate (or certificates) and a certified translation if it is not in English to show you are of good character.
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Step eight - Electronic copies of visa application documents
- Ensure you have electronic copies available of all the above documents to upload with your student visa application.
- You will also need to upload a copy of the identity pages on your current passport.
Step nine - Submit your visa application through the INZ portal
Most students will apply under the Fee paying student visa category. The University is unable to support Pathway student visa applications at this time.
If you are unsure which category applies to you (e.g. if you are holding a government scholarship) please contact Immigration New Zealand.
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You may need to provide documents in addition to the ones mentioned above.