New Zealand is making changes in the post study work (PSW) visa, so that students who complete a Master’s degree after earning a Postgraduate Diploma remain eligible for PSW rights. Learn everything about new PSW changes made by NZ from the article below:
Students who have completed a 30-week Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) and then immediately progressed to a Master’s degree, but didn’t enroll in master’s degree for 30 weeks—are now eligible to apply for a Post Study Work Visa (PSWV) based on their PGDip enrollment. This change offers students greater flexibility in their study plans while maintaining eligibility to work after their qualification.
If a student completes a qualification eligible for a PSW and then pursues a higher-level qualification that is ineligible (due to not meeting the minimum study duration or other criteria), they will have up to 12 months from the expiration of their student visa for the initial qualification to apply for a PSWV.
To obtain a 3-year PSWV, students must complete at least 30 weeks of full-time study in New Zealand specifically enrolled in the Master’s degree. Applicants must hold a qualifying NZ qualification studied full-time for the required minimum duration and submit their PSWV application within the designated timeframe.
New Zealand Changes to the list of qualifications eligibilty for PSWV.
Changes made to align the list of qualifications for PSWV with green list:
- Applicants for a Post Study Work Visa (PSWV) who are qualified to teach at secondary schools are no longer required to hold a Bachelor’s degree specializing in Science, Mathematics, Technology, or Pacific Languages.
- Applicants who have completed graduate diplomas and meet the Teaching Council’s registration requirements are now eligible for a Post Study Work Visa (PSWV) to work as Primary or Intermediate school teachers.
- The New Zealand Diploma in Engineering (Level 6) with a specialization in Mechanical Engineering has been added to the list of qualifications eligible for a Post Study Work Visa (PSWV), making Mechanical Engineering Technicians eligible for this visa.
Learn more about study visa information and changes made by New Zealand related to PSW from https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre
Post Study Work Visa
New Zealand offers upto 3 years of PSWV depending on your qualification. You can easily apply for PSW visa after you complete your studies. Apply your PSWV online. The processing time for PSWV is almost 5 weeks and the cost to apply starts from NZD$ 1670, previously the cost was NZD$ 700. There are a lot of things post study work visa(PSWV) allows you to do in new zealand.
You can only apply for the PSW visa once after you complete your studies (You must apply for a visa no later than 3 months after your student visa expires). Additionally, you can stay upto 3 years depending on your study level. Whereas, other supporting documents like identity proof, health certificate, sufficient funds, police reports that shows you poses no security threats to anyone, academic eligibility should be submitted. Your spouse can apply for the work visa and your children can study fee-free as domestic student which is only available in NZ.
Benefits of New Zealand Post Study Work Visa(PSWV)
The post study work visa provides student with a flexibility of working in new zealand upto 3 years. This means you can find a perfect job that matches your studies which will ultimately help in getting permanant residency. Getting permanent residence of NZ will allow you to live there as long as you want. Additionally, you can easily travel to Australia without even needing visa (just buy a plane ticket and enjoy your trip to australia). While you are on PSW, you can easily travel in and out of NZ as you are permitted with multiple entry. If you are eager to learn more about the benefits of having PSWV, please contact us.
Work as a student in New Zealand?
A student may be allowed to work part-time upto 20 hours a week and full-time during all scheduled holidays/ holidays like christmas and new year.
Part Time Work:
A student is permitted to work up to 20 hours per week if they are enrolled in a full-time course lasting at least two years, an English language program aimed at improving their English skill to meet specific criteria, or a foundation program of at least one year at Level 4 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF) offered by an education provider in Canterbury. This also applies to students pursuing a New Zealand qualification that earns points under the Skilled Migrant Category.
Full Time work:
A student may be able to work full-time during their study breaks and christmas and new year holiday. Whereas, students enrolled in PhD and masters by research programme awarded by New Zealand tertiary can work without any hourly restrictions.
Is New Zealand promising destination for students?
New Zealand has become one of the most popular destination for students in 2024. The international students wanting to pursue their degree in has increased vastly from 2023 to 2024 and is expected to increase more in 2024. Due to welcoming environment and quality of education provided by universities in New Zealand it has become evergreen destination for students. Among the universities in New Zealand there are 8 univeristies ranked among 500 best universities worldwide.
New Zealand is also known as home for research students. A lot of students who are pursuing masters by research and PhD prefer new zealand because of the fundings universities allocate to research students. Also, Research students can work full time without any hourly restriction. Due to the flexibility in post study work visa changes in new zealand, more students are eyeing new zealand for their furthur education journey.
The visa success rate for students applying to universities is really good in new zealand if all the visa application requirements are met. Nepalese students willing to learn about study options and neccessary requirements can visit our page and find out more about visa application checklist and other important information.
Green List Roles in New Zealand
Basically, The Green list is the list of occupations that are hugely in demand in NZ. If you are working in a role mentioned in the green list, it will help you get the NZ residence faster. Their is a tier of the green list job and based on your job and its tier you may apply quickly for work to permanent residence if your job is highly recognized by NZ government. Jobs like Aeronautical Engineer(related domains), IT(programmer and related domain), Nurse, Doctors(related fields), Career Counsellor, Civil Engineer etc are listed as Tier 1 category. People having tier 1 job and meet the qualification criteria can straight apply for residence visa.
Jobs like Loader operator, Electrician(General), Early childhood(pre-primary school teacher), Drainlayer, Middle school teacher, telecommunications technician, dairy farm manager etc are listed as tier 2. If an individual is working tier 2 job he/she should work for 2 years before applying for NZ residence.
Learn more about your role and check if your roles and qualification matches that in NZ green list role.
ANZSCO (skill level)
ANZSCO is Australian & New Zealand standard classification of occupation. Under ANZSCO various occupation are catorized as skill level 1-5, skill level 1 being the highest(high in demand) and skill level 5 being the lowest (lower demand). According to ANZSCO if your job falls under skill level 1-3 then you might apply for the NZ residency after working for 2 years. Additionally, skill level 1-3 jobs falls under the green list (tier 1 and tier 2) as mentioned above. Based on the skill level of your job you are then awarded with points, Higher points make it easier to meet PR threashold.
You will need to accumulate 6 points to apply for the NZ Permanent residency, You can get 3 to 6 points based on NZ occupational registration, qualifications, income etc. You can get 1 points for each year work experience in NZ (skilled job), you can get maximum of 3 points from skilled job.