A new cohort of up to 5,000 international students was announced by the Government on 3 February 2022, as part of a five-step plan to reopen Aotearoa New Zealand’s borders.
Updated at 9:30am on 24 February 2022 to include the allocation of student numbers by subsector.
The students will be able to enter New Zealand from mid-2022 as a border exception, through a centrally managed process.
Student numbers will be allocated across the sector, based on the proportion of international students who were attending each type of education provider pre-COVID in 2019:
- University 1,450
- Te Pūkenga 700
- School (year 9 and above) 1,000
- PTE 850
- English Language School 1,000
Students will need to meet the same living cost requirements as the previous cohort, namely funds of $15,000 for school students and $20,000 for other students.
Expected timings are as follows:
- Early to mid-March 2022 – decisions communicated about the allocation of places to individual education providers
- Mid-late March 2022 – education providers begin nominating students
- Mid-April 2022 – the border exception visa application process opens for cohort 4 students
- From mid-2022 – students are in New Zealand ready to begin their study.
We appreciate that the timings are tight, and everyone involved will need to work closely together so we can make the most of this opportunity.
This cohort of students will not be required to go through a Managed Isolation and Quarantine facility when they arrive in New Zealand.
Instead, they will need to self-isolate for seven days and comply with other health requirements. The self-isolation rules that will apply to travellers were announced by the Government on 15 February 2022.