Student visas

You need to apply for your student visa online through Immigration New Zealand – the process is the same whether you are in New Zealand or overseas.

• Go to the Immigration Online website
• You will need to create a RealMe account to be able to apply for your student visa online. Follow the instructions given in our RealMe Guide

If you are not eligible to apply online, Immigration NZ will direct you to apply using a paper form.

Immigration Online website
Download RealMe Guide
Download RealMe Guide (Chinese version)

It's important that you follow the Immigration New Zealand checklist when you apply for your visa. It helps Immigration New Zealand make a decision on your visa application faster. You can find the checklist on the Immigration New Zealand website.

Student visa information (Immigration New Zealand)

What you need

1. Passport quality photo of yourself, as a JPG file – check the Immigration New Zealand website for more details
2. Police, medical or x-ray certificates – you may need to supply these. Check the Immigration New Zealand website for more details
3. Scanned documents – listed in the section below
4. A debit or credit card to pay for your application online - check the Immigration New Zealand website for more details

Acceptable photos (Immigration New Zealand website)
Police and medical certificates (Immigration New Zealand website)
Fees, decision times and where to apply (Immigration New Zealand website)

You need to scan and save the following documents as PDFs, so you can upload them when you complete your application.

Students must upload the following documents with their application. If you are a PhD student, you need to provide some extra documents – these are described in the next sections.

New students

1. Bio-page of your passport (page that shows your photo, date of birth details, etc). Check that your passport is not going to expire within the next six months.
2. Offer of Place (available from your Arion correspondence)
3. Evidence that you have paid your international tuition fees. You need to supply one of these documents:
   • AUT receipt or payment acknowledgement letter (you can download these from Arion)
   • Scholarship confirmation letter or financial guarantee letter (if applicable)
   • Please note that screenshots of bank transfers or receipts from education agents are not accepted
4. Academic transcripts from previous institute of study. If you are a pre-degree high school or foundation student, you will need to provide your attendance reports.
5. All qualifications obtained from previous institutes of study
6. Proof of living expenses: you need to show you have access to at least NZ$20,000 for one year, NZ$10,000 for one semester, or NZD$1,667 a month if the duration of your programme of study is less than a semester. To do this, you need to supply one of these documents:
   • A financial guarantee or scholarship letter indicating you are fully funded for the duration of your study
   • A bank statement in your name only, with three months of transaction history (Immigration New Zealand does not accept a printout of a balance only) and not older than three days at the time of your visa application
   • A completed Sponsorship Form (INZ1025) from a sponsor who is a New Zealand resident or citizen, filled out by the same person who completed this form for your initial (first ever) student visa application before you arrived in New Zealand
   • A completed Financial Undertaking Form (INZ1014) filled out by the same person who completed this form for your previous student visa application before you arrived in New Zealand
7. Evidence of good health and character. Depending on how long you plan to stay in New Zealand and the countries you have previously spent time in, you may also need to:
   • Get a chest x-ray from a panel physician and/or a medical examination to show that you are healthy. Find out if that applies to you
   • Provide a police certificate (or certificates) – and a certified English translation – to show that you are of good character. Find out if that applies to you
8. A cover letter or statement of purpose that explains why you want to study a particular programme at AUT and provides information about you. This should be written by you, not your agent or licensed immigration advisor.

Returning students

If you are a returning student, you must provide all the documents listed above in points 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, as well as the following:

1. Most recent academic transcripts from your current programme of study
2. Confirmation of Enrolment (if the Offer of Place for the programme you are studying is still valid) or a new Offer of Place if your programme has changed

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students

If you are a PhD student, you must include all the documents listed in the new students section as well as some extra documents. You can upload these under the 'Other' section in your application:

1. Thesis title (abstract) and the names of all your supervisors
2. Updated CV

Returning Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students

If you are a returning PhD student you must include the documents listed in the new students section (points 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7) as well as some extra documents. You can upload these under the 'Other' section in your application:

1. Thesis title (abstract) and the names of all your supervisors if your thesis topic has changed since your last student visa application
2. Progress report/update (recent PGR approval)
3. Confirmation of Enrolment

When you submit your online application the status will change to “submitted”. You can log in at any time to check the status of your application.

Check your email often

You should regularly check your email inbox as Immigration New Zealand may ask you to provide other documents. You should also check your junk or spam folder in case correspondence from Immigration New Zealand is there.

Your application outcome

Immigration New Zealand will issue you with an outcome on your application. If you are issued with an eVisa they will send it to your email. You should print out your eVisa and keep it with your passport at all times. You will not be issued a visa label.

Send AUT a copy of your visa

If you already have your updated visa or have had an interim visa sent to you by email, please provide a copy to us as soon as possible. The quickest way to do this is to upload your visa directly to Arion.

You need to log into arion.aut.ac.nz and choose: Academic Details > Student Documents > Add Document > Select Document Type > Valid Visa.

Log into Arion website