29 April 2022 at 9:30 am

Strong start for Cohort 4 international students

Nominations are progressing well for the border exception class of up to 5,000 international students, with some places still available to students in English language schools (ELS), private training establishments (PTEs) and schooling sectors.

Already more than 3,500 international students have been nominated by their education providers and confirmed by education agencies.  More than 1,900 of these students have had their Request for Travel approved and have been invited by Immigration New Zealand to apply for their student visas, since the process opened on 13 April 2022. 

Places remain available for students with a number of ELS and PTE providers. Only education providers can nominate students for this cohort. Interested international students or their agents should contact ELS or PTEs as soon as possible. Of the 5,000 places in this cohort, 1,000 were allocated to ELS and 850 to PTEs, with the remainder going to universities, Te Pūkenga, and secondary schools 

Once they have been nominated by an education provider and confirmed by education agencies, students have two weeks to make their Request for Travel through the Immigration New Zealand website. Following approval of the Request for Travel, students then have one month to complete and submit a student visa application to Immigration New Zealand, in time for a mid-year start for their studies.  

Education providers are due to complete their nominations by 6 May 2022.  Any unused places will be transferred to other providers, which means that some providers may get additional places as part of the reallocation process. 

This is the fourth cohort of international students to be granted a border exception to enter New Zealand and is part of the progressive reopening of our borders. All visa categories are due to reopen from October 2022 onwards, including visitor and student visas. 

For more information on this cohort of international students, see Cohort 4 » Education NZ (enz.govt.nz)

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