What do the rules ask of international students in New Zealand?

Short answer first: a Fee Paying Student Visa asks four things of you while you study, as Immigration New Zealand lists them: full-time study on an approved course, attendance unless you have good reason for absences, satisfactory progress, and full medical and travel insurance for your stay. Your university must be a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021, and clause 45 of that Code makes it report known or suspected visa breaches. At Auckland, full-time means at least 45 points a semester. Changing provider usually needs a new visa.

This is written for a degree student at one of the eight universities who holds, or is about to hold, a student visa. The rules come first, then the study side: how lectures and tutorials work, and where to get English and academic help before a problem grows. Your own eVisa conditions always outrank a general guide, this one included.

What does a Fee Paying Student Visa require while you study?

There are several student visas, and the Fee Paying Student Visa is the one for students paying international fees themselves or with help from family, a loan or a partial scholarship. Its conditions are the reference point here. Your own conditions are in your eVisa, your approval letter or the Visa Verification Service, and they can fix your provider and programme.

• Study full-time on an approved course. Immigration New Zealand's page for the visa says it lets you study full-time on an approved course, and its page on checking your conditions says the study conditions on a visa can name the education provider you can study at and the programme you must attend.
• Attend and make progress. You must attend the course noted on your visa unless you have good reason for absences, and make satisfactory progress. When you apply for another student visa you show you are passing and meeting attendance requirements; a bachelor's student may have no attendance records but must still show progress.
• Hold insurance for your whole stay. The visa requires full medical and travel insurance, from the start of your course until the visa expires, and it must meet the Code and be acceptable to your university.
• Work only within your conditions. The same page says the visa lets you work part-time up to 25 hours a week while studying and full-time in holidays, depending on your conditions; how that fits a semester is in the study plan for the New Zealand academic year.

Read your conditions on the day the visa arrives, not the week before a renewal. Immigration New Zealand says genuine reasons for absence will be considered when you apply for another visa, so keep the medical certificate or the email that explains a missed fortnight. A gap you can explain is a different thing from a gap you cannot.

What if you want to drop or change a course?

Your visa follows your enrolment, so a change to your enrolment can become a change to your visa. The universities publish their own versions of what full-time means and who to talk to first, and Immigration New Zealand decides which changes it can approve without a new visa.

• Auckland sets the full-time line at 45 points. Auckland's page on part-time enrolment says you must be enrolled in at least three courses or 45 points per semester, or two courses or 30 points per quarter. A final semester with one or two courses left is the only exception, allowed once, and needs a confirmation form.
• Otago expects full-time until your last semester. Otago's visa page says part-time enrolment is acceptable only in your final semester, to complete a qualification, and that breaking visa conditions could mean being told to leave New Zealand.
• AUT warns that Immigration New Zealand may contact you. AUT's page on course changes says Immigration New Zealand may contact you if it learns you are no longer studying full-time, and that a move to part-time study generally needs a different visa, such as a visitor visa with conditions that allow part-time study.
• A variation covers some changes, not others. Immigration New Zealand's page on changing conditions allows a variation to change your study location, or to move to a course at the same or a higher level, with the same provider. A lower-level course, a new provider or a much earlier or later finish date needs a new visa, unless the change of provider is outside your control.
• Leaving first is a breach. The same page warns that if you leave your current course before the change is fully approved, you breach your current conditions and may have to leave New Zealand.

Before you withdraw from anything

1. Read the study conditions on your eVisa and note the provider and programme they name.
2. Talk to your university's visa or international team before you press withdraw: Auckland's international student support, Otago's Student Visa Services at the International Office, or AUT's Student Hub.
3. If the change needs Immigration New Zealand's approval, apply and keep attending your current course until the change is fully approved.
4. At Auckland, send the part-time confirmation form early if your final semester is light, so your visa application is not held up.

What does the Code of Practice promise you?

Every university that enrols international students must be a signatory to the Code, and section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020 makes a code for international students binding on all signatory providers. NZQA administers it. The Code is long; a handful of its duties shape your experience most.

• The same care as domestic students, plus attention to your needs. NZQA's summary for tertiary learners says international tertiary learners are entitled to the same kind of care and support as domestic learners, and that providers must recognise their different support needs and respond to them.
• Full information before you sign. Clause 41 of the Code of Practice lists what you receive before a contract, including refund conditions, services and supports, and insurance and visa requirements, and clause 42 requires the contract of enrolment to be fair and reasonable.
• Refund rules for set situations. Clause 46 requires a refund policy that covers failing to get a visa, voluntary withdrawal, and the university stopping a course or ceasing to be a signatory.
• Orientation and information about work. Clauses 47 and 48 give you the chance of an orientation programme and require information on minimum wages, the maximum hours your visa allows, and how to report misconduct by an employer.
• A free dispute service behind it. Section 536 of the Act sets up a dispute resolution scheme for contractual and financial disputes, which you may use once the university has had a chance to resolve the matter. NZQA's complaints page names Study Complaints, Ngā amuamu tauira, as the free, independent service.

Treat the Code as a checklist of what your university owes you. If orientation skipped something you needed, or nobody explained the refund rules, you can ask for it in writing and point to the clause.

What does your university report to Immigration New Zealand?

This part of the Code is easy to miss. Clause 45 requires signatories to check that each international learner has the right immigration status, to report known or suspected breaches of visa conditions, and to notify Immigration New Zealand when an enrolment is terminated.

• The termination form is detailed. Immigration New Zealand's student enrolment termination form asks for your attendance on your last course in percentage bands, whether your progress was poor or satisfactory, and a reason, from poor attendance and never attending to moving provider or leaving New Zealand. It is not used when a student completes or graduates.
• A report can lead to action. The same page says a provider's report could mean Immigration New Zealand takes compliance action, which can affect your visa.
• Auckland lists the triggers. Auckland's page on maintaining your visa says it may notify Immigration New Zealand if you withdraw from all your courses, get a late deletion from all of them, are not enrolled for a semester or quarter, finish significantly early, or have your enrolment terminated.

Your personal details also go to Immigration New Zealand: its rules for approved education providers say they are passed on to verify a student's immigration status, and that students must be informed and consent. What universities hold about you, and how to ask for it, is in student data and privacy in New Zealand.

What insurance do you need?

Insurance is both a visa condition and a Code requirement, and universities handle it differently. The Code sets the floor, Immigration New Zealand checks that you have it, and your university decides which policies it accepts.

• The Code sets the minimum cover. Clause 44 applies to study of 2 weeks or longer and covers travel to, from and within New Zealand; medical care including diagnosis, prescription, surgery and hospitalisation; repatriation after serious illness or injury, including travel for family who help; and death, including family travel, repatriation of the body and funeral costs.
• Immigration New Zealand exempts PhD students from the visa rule. The visa page says your university will tell you what the policy must cover or may arrange it, and that Doctor of Philosophy students do not need insurance.
• Auckland requires cover of every international student, doctoral students included. Auckland's insurance page registers you in the Studentsafe Inbound University policy from Allianz Partners when you accept your offer, adds the charge to your fees account within 48 hours of enrolling, and wants it paid by the first day of semester unless an alternative policy is approved.
• Otago bills it with your fees. Otago's international fees page says insurance is invoiced to your eVision tuition fee account, and its visa page says you hold cover from your enrolment date until your visa expires.

If you already hold a policy from home, check before you arrive whether your university accepts it. Auckland's waiver page says you apply for a new waiver every semester, that late applications are not accepted, and that missing the deadline means paying for the Studentsafe policy.

What will you pay in tuition fees?

Tuition is set by each university and each course or paper, so a single national figure would mislead you. Auckland publishes estimates for a full-time year of 120 points, for this year and next, which makes it a useful benchmark.

Auckland's estimates for a full-time year

Auckland's international fees page adds a Student Services Fee of 9.44 New Zealand dollars per point in 2026, about 1,132.80 New Zealand dollars for 120 points, and says the 2027 fee will be set in late 2026. Your exact bill comes from a fees statement after you enrol in courses.

• Otago limits increases for continuing students. Otago says fees for students continuing an existing programme may rise by at most 5 per cent a year, and that your actual fee is calculated from the papers you take.
• Otago charges international PhD students domestic fees. You must live in New Zealand throughout your studies, apart from approved research trips abroad.

Budget for the second year at the second year's price. The Code's own refund clause is worth reading before you pay a full year up front.

How do lectures and tutorials expect you to take part?

Canterbury's Academic Skills Centre wrote a short academic guide for international students, and it is blunt about the habits that differ from home. Waikato's pages for new students describe a similar pattern.

• Lectures are for listening. Canterbury's guide says students usually do not talk in lectures unless the lecturer asks them a question, and that attendance is usually not monitored, although some courses make it compulsory.
• Tutorials expect you to speak. The same guide says participation in tutorials, labs and workshops is usually not graded, but students who attend are expected to contribute.
• Some papers do grade it. Waikato's information for new students says attendance and participation in tutorials form part of the assessment in some papers, and that attendance at workshops, labs and field trips is compulsory and assessed.
• You may disagree with a lecturer. Canterbury describes the relationship as relatively informal, with lecturers often called by first name, and says you may question a lecturer's ideas politely if you have evidence.
• Extensions are asked for before the deadline. Canterbury says you must discuss an extension with your lecturer before the due date, because nobody will chase a late assignment for you.

Your first tutorials

Prepare one point or question from the week's reading before each tutorial and say it in the first half of the session, when the discussion is still open. Short and early beats long and late. For what to write down in tutorials, labs and lectures, see notes for lectures, tutorials and labs in New Zealand.

Where do you get English and study help early?

Canterbury's guide warns that meeting the minimum entry score in a test such as IELTS may not mean your English is ready for every situation at university, and that non-native speakers are expected to keep improving while enrolled. Each university runs its own programmes; four are described below.

Auckland: start with DELNA

Auckland's DELNA page describes a free check of your academic English. Everyone starts with a Screening, and some students are asked to sit a Diagnosis and then meet a language adviser. The results do not exclude you from courses you are enrolled in and do not appear on your official academic record. English Language Enrichment then offers one-on-one language advice, writing workshops and language learning groups.

Victoria: PALS and cross-cultural communication

At Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington, Te Taiako Student Learning runs PALS, Preparation for Academic Life and Study, once a week at the start of trimesters one and two. Its Cross Cultural Communication course covers seeking help from lecturers, group work and working with supervisors. There is also a conversation programme, and grammar workshops run on Thursdays.

Canterbury and Otago: help that runs all year

Canterbury's international support page lists a year-long English Language Support Programme with 50-minute workshops once a week in term time, and speaking and listening workshops. Otago's Student Academic Skills offers conversational English classes and Language Mentors.

Book the first appointment in week one, before an assignment is due. Advisers can do more with a draft than with a deadline.

Where Notibo fits

Notibo transcribes lectures in 89 languages, and the transcript is in the language spoken, so an English lecture gives you an English transcript to reread at your own pace. It does not translate. With permission to record, as covered in may you record a lecture in New Zealand, it records on a computer or takes an audio file you upload, then returns structured notes; on Pro it also makes flashcards with spaced repetition from the recording, which suits the terms and names you did not catch the first time. It also turns PDF, PPTX and DOCX readings into notes and flashcards.

The transcription page shows how it works. You get Pro free for 14 days, with 240 minutes of audio, and no card is asked for. After those 14 days the free plan gives 30 minutes of audio a month; Pro costs 9.99 euro a month or 88.99 euro a year, and the local amount appears at checkout. Files are stored in the EU, and transcription and the AI notes run on US processors named in Notibo's privacy policy.