After you graduate
Rules read 16 Aug 2026
What New Zealand's own immigration authority currently publishes. Not a ranking, not a guarantee, and not the same as what any agent or forum will tell you. Whether someone actually obtains residence depends on occupation, points, funds and policy that can change between application and graduation.
Money you must prove before the visa
NZ$20,000for each year, where the study is tertiary level, English language or other non-compulsory study and lasts 1 year or more — a shorter course is NZD $1,667 for each month instead
Shown as a balance in a bank account. You keep control of it.
Figure published for: as published on Immigration New Zealand's student fund requirements page, which carries the issue stamp 'Issued: Monday 02 Mar 2026' and was read on 19 August 2026 This amount is revised regularly, so check it again before you transfer anything.
This is living costs only. On top of it the applicant must prove they can leave New Zealand — either a fully paid outward ticket or enough extra money to buy one — and, if pregnant, a further NZD $9,000 for maternity health and medical costs. Prepaid accommodation can be deducted from the living-costs figure (for example money already paid to a school for homestay), but any shortfall must still be evidenced. A child in primary, intermediate or secondary school (years 1 to 13) needs NZD $17,000 for each year, or NZD $1,417 a month for a shorter stay. The funds do not have to come from one place: they can be money held by or for the applicant, an acceptable sponsor, or a guarantor or third party, and different costs can be covered different ways. A sponsor is legally responsible for all the applicant's living costs even where the applicant intends to pay some themselves; an organisation sponsor must be registered in New Zealand with a clear link between its activities and the sponsorship, an individual sponsor must be a New Zealand citizen or resident and a family member or friend, the sponsor cannot be changed, and someone unsponsored on their first visa cannot be sponsored on a second. Accepted primary evidence is bank statements showing the account holder's name and the last 3 months of transactions, fixed-term deposit certificates held at least 3 months, a scholarship award letter, an education loan disbursal and sanction letter from a nationalised or multinational bank secured on the applicant's own fixed assets, or withdrawable provident funds. Large deposits (over NZD $2,000), many small ones, or a recently opened account trigger a request for secondary evidence explaining where the money came from.
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Work during study
Most student visa holders may work part-time up to 25 hours a week (raised from 20 hours, effective 3 November 2025) alongside full-time study, and full-time during mid-year study breaks and the Christmas/New Year holiday period — the exact conditions are printed on each student's own visa. PhD and Research Master's students enrolled at a New Zealand tertiary institution have no hours limit at all, provided they keep studying full-time.
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Post-study work visa
Post Study Work Visa . Up to 3 years
Lets a recent graduate of an approved New Zealand qualification stay and work in New Zealand for up to 3 years. Applicants must have a degree-level (NZQCF level 7 or higher) qualification studied full-time for at least 30 weeks in New Zealand, or an eligible non-degree qualification (level 7 or below, on the list of qualifications eligible for this visa) tied to a job related to what they studied. Length of stay depends on the qualification: applicants with a Master's or Doctoral qualification (at least 30 weeks of full-time NZ study) get 3 years; other eligible graduates — including a bachelor's degree — get a visa matching the length of their study, as recorded on their offer of place. From 16 November 2026, eligibility is due to extend to an NZQCF level 7 graduate diploma studied full-time in New Zealand combined with a bachelor's degree completed in New Zealand or overseas.
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Route to permanent residence
A Post Study Work Visa can lead to a resident visa but does not itself grant one. The main points-based route is the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) Resident Visa, which (under the rules current as of this reading) requires at least 6 'skilled resident points' built from having a skilled job or job offer, plus 3 to 6 points for the applicant's highest New Zealand (or NZ-equivalent) qualification level — 6 for a doctoral degree, 5 for a master's degree, 4 for a bachelor honours degree or postgraduate diploma, 3 for a (level 7) bachelor's degree or postgraduate certificate — or for occupational registration or income instead, plus up to 3 more points for skilled work experience in New Zealand. Immigration New Zealand has announced changes to this points system taking effect 24 August 2026, after which a New Zealand bachelor's degree is due to be worth 5 points rather than 3, alongside two new non-points-based SMC pathways and a reduced New Zealand work-experience requirement. Separately, a Green List Tier 1 job with an accredited employer can qualify for a Straight to Residence Visa, and a Tier 2 Green List job can lead to residence via a Work to Residence visa after 2 years of qualifying work.
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Route to citizenship
New Zealand citizenship by grant is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) — a different department from Immigration New Zealand, which runs the visa system. An applicant must hold a Resident Visa or Permanent Resident Visa and have been entitled to reside in New Zealand indefinitely for at least 5 years, and must have been physically present in New Zealand for at least 1,350 days during those 5 years, with at least 240 days present in each of the five 12-month periods. Applicants must also show they intend to keep living in New Zealand, hold a basic conversational level of English, and be of good character. New Zealand allows dual citizenship or multiple citizenship — becoming a New Zealand citizen does not require renouncing an applicant's existing nationality, though govt.nz notes some other countries do not extend the same allowance.
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What the government currently prioritises
Immigration New Zealand maintains a Green List of roles the country needs workers for, split into Tier 1 (qualifies for a Straight to Residence Visa immediately, given the stated qualification/registration/experience and remuneration) and Tier 2 (qualifies for a Work to Residence visa leading to residence after 2 years). Reading the operational manual's own Appendix 13 (the Green List's full table, current as of 9 March 2026) directly, rather than only the search tool, shows real depth in this dataset's fields. ICT, Electronics and Telecommunications names on Tier 1 include ICT Project Manager, ICT Managers nec, Analyst Programmer, Developer Programmer, Software Engineer, Software Tester, ICT Security Specialist, Software and Applications Programmers nec, Database Administrator and Systems Administrator — each gated on a stated remuneration floor (e.g. at least NZD 70.00/hour, about NZD 145,600/year on a 40-hour week, rising to NZD 87.50/hour for a Straight to Residence application based on a contract for services plus 10 years' relevant work), not just the occupation title. Engineering names on Tier 1 include Chemical, Materials, Civil, Geotechnical, Structural, Electrical, Electronics, Industrial, Mechanical, Production/Plant, Aeronautical and Environmental Engineer, each requiring a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (or an accepted equivalent) plus New Zealand registration, or a certifying letter from Engineering New Zealand, as a Chartered Professional Engineer. Health and Social Services names on Tier 1 include Resident Medical Officer and other Medical Practitioner grades (NZ Medical Council registration), Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses across more than a dozen named specialisms (Aged Care, Critical Care and Emergency, Mental Health, Surgical, Paediatrics and others), Medical Laboratory Scientist, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist and Medical Imaging Technologist, each with its own required qualification and NZ professional registration. Green List contents and remuneration thresholds are reviewed and change periodically — this dataset's list above is a snapshot of the 9 March 2026 table, not a live feed, so re-check the current Appendix 13 for a specific occupation before relying on it.
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Four universities in this dataset are in New Zealand (Waikato, AUT, Lincoln and Massey) — this note previously said none were, which was already stale by the time of this correction. Two upcoming changes matter for anyone timing an application: Post Study Work Visa eligibility is due to extend on 16 November 2026, and the Skilled Migrant Category points system is due to change on 24 August 2026 (a New Zealand bachelor's degree rising from 3 to 5 of the 6 points needed). Read 16 August 2026, shortly before the August 2026 SMC change — re-check the current rules before relying on this, especially the residence-points figures. Deepening pass, 17 August 2026: inDemandOccupations previously described only the Green List's mechanism and explicitly declined to name any occupation, deferring to 'the live tool'. This pass instead read Immigration New Zealand's own operational-manual Appendix 13 (the Green List's full published table, immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/89117.htm, dated 09/03/2026 on the page itself) directly and archived it, so specific Tier 1 ICT, engineering and health occupation names, ANZSCO codes and remuneration floors could be cited rather than described only in the abstract. immigration.govt.nz was already an allowlisted New Zealand domain; no domain change was needed. Tier 2 was checked too and, as before, contains no ICT/engineering/health roles relevant to this dataset's fields (it is concentrated in trades). citizenshipRoute added 17 August 2026, cited to govt.nz (the presence-requirements page, 4d817320f89a9694, and the changing-your-citizenship-status/dual-citizenship page, 9fe2acf3f160398f, both already covered by the existing 'govt.nz' entry in IMMIGRATION_DOMAINS since it matches any *.govt.nz host). The Department of Internal Affairs' own site, dia.govt.nz, hosts only downloadable policy-manual PDFs rather than a plain-text current-requirements page, so the citizen-facing govt.nz pages it links to were used instead — both are official New Zealand Government pages, just not on the dia.govt.nz subdomain specifically. naturalisationStatus set to 'published-route' on 18 August 2026: the authority already cited under citizenshipRoute publishes criteria a foreign resident could actually follow, which is the only claim this field makes. It is deliberately not a judgement about how attainable that route is in practice. studentVisaFunds added 19 August 2026. Both the annual and the monthly rate appear in the cited quote; the annual figure is stored as the amount because it is the one that applies to degree-length study, which is what this dataset carries. Immigration New Zealand states no separate commencement date for the figure, so effectiveFrom records the issue stamp the page itself carries (02 Mar 2026) rather than inventing one.
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