New interim New Zealand visa for foreign students

New Zealand, 15th December: The immigration department of New Zealand is going to roll out a new type of visa for foreign students in order to ease the process of studying in New Zealand.

This has been revealed by Jonathan Coleman, the New Zealand Immigration Minister.

The interim New Zealand visa is meant for international students getting their student visa applications processed and will become effective in February 2011.

Interim New Zealand visas are the result of the new Immigration Act 2009 introduced by the New Zealand government recently and their aim is to legalize the stay of any person in New Zealand who possesses a valid New Zealand temporary visa and also has filed an application for extension of his visa.

So, it will allow international students continue their study in New Zealand while their New Zealand visa application is under process. The only condition will be that they should have entered the country legally while applying, the immigration minister asserted. 

The introduction of the new interim New Zealand visas will ensure peace of mind to the international students although they will have to abide by the eligibility criteria of New Zealand immigration, he stated. Such visas are also going to make the process of enrolment smooth for education providers in the country.

However, in case, New Zealand immigration has any doubts about an applicant, then it might not issue interim visas to such person.

Fee-paying international students getting interim New Zealand visas will be required to submit medical and police certificates once in three years. Prior to the introduction of the new rules, all students were required to provide both these certificates once in two years.

This changed provision will make it easier as well as cheaper for foreign students applying for new interim New Zealand visas, the New Zealand immigration minister maintained, adding that getting certificates  is expensive for foreign students and the applications might be returned by the immigration department if the certificates have become expired, Dr. Coleman clarified.

In the year 2009-10, a total of 94,000 New Zealand student visa applications were approved by the immigration department.

According to Dr. Coleman, the introduction of the interim New Zealand visa will bring a big boost to the export education sector of New Zealand which is worth $2 billion annually.