23 April 2009

New Zealand student visa programme not proving strong this year

The New Zealand student visa programme was hoped to be a popular choice for international students while the New Zealand dollar was dropping in the financial crisis, considering early reports showed a strong interest in enrolments.

The New Zealand student visa programme provides a wide variety of courses to choose from, plus the opportunity to get a one year job search visa and two years New Zealand work permit after studies have been completed.  Further, unlike many countries, students can work up to 20 hours per week if they apply to do so.

New Zealand's top universities have reported mixed results in 2009's number of New Zealand student visa holders when compared with last year's enrolments, with Auckland, Otago, Massey, Victoria and Auckland University of Technology (AUT) suffering a decline and Waikato University and Canterbury University welcoming positive results of 7 and 3.7 per cent growth (respectively).

The chairman of English New Zealand said that the results are worrying for the $2.3 billion industry and can be blamed on New Zealand immigration policies which make it difficult to find part-time work, despite the fact that it allows international students a New Zealand work permit to work up to 20 hours per week.

While some key markets have increased their interest in the New Zealand student visa programme, including Southeast Asia, India and Saudi Arabia, China has fallen slightly at the wayside.

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The New Zealand Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people with their New Zealand visa application.