Post Study Work Visa

Conditions you must meet

• Recently finished studying in New Zealand for an approved qualification
• Hold a New Zealand qualification that qualifies you for this visaThe umbrella requirement. Which of the two routes below applies changes what else you must satisfy.
• Apply no later than 3, 6 or 12 months after your student visa expires — which one depends on what you studiedTHE MOST ERROR-PRONE RULE ON THIS PAGE. The default is 3 months. A doctoral degree gets 6. Someone who finished an eligible qualification and went straight into a higher-level one lasting under 30 weeks gets 12 months, measured from the FIRST qualification's student visa. INZ states it checks its own records for timeliness, so this is settled on facts an applicant cannot re-argue after the fact.
• You can hold this visa only onceUnlike the Dutch orientation year, which can be granted a second time on a later qualification, this one cannot be repeated.
• Be in good healthINZ may require a chest x-ray, a medical examination, or both, and tells you by email during processing.
• Be of good character
• Have a genuine reason for coming to New ZealandINZ weighs everything it holds about you, including what you told it in earlier applications — so inconsistency across applications is itself a risk.
• Passport valid at least 3 months beyond your planned departure from New ZealandMeasured from when you plan to LEAVE, not from when you arrive or apply.

Documents you must provide

• Police certificates under 6 months old, if you are 17+ and your total NZ time reaches 24 monthsTwo thresholds decide whether you need these at all, and the second counts time on EARLIER visas, not just this one. They must come from every country you are a citizen of and any country you spent more than 5 years in since turning 17. Certificates already supplied within the last 24 months do not need repeating.
• Show at least NZD 5,000 for living expenses, in bank statements in your nameNZD 5,000A flat figure: INZ states it applies to 1, 2 and 3 year applications alike, so a longer visa does not require more. The statements must be in your own name, and INZ may ask to see them again on arrival.
• Proof of the qualification you gained in New ZealandINZ accepts any one of three: a copy of the qualification, your academic transcript, or a letter from your tertiary provider confirming completion.
• One acceptable photo online, or two photos on paper

Government fees

• Application fee from NZD 1,670from NZD 1,670INZ publishes this as a FROM price — the final amount depends on where and how you apply, and levies or third-party charges may sit on top.

Also stated by the authority

Not requirements in themselves. These are alternatives, exemptions, rights and warnings the authority publishes alongside the requirements — quoted here because they can change what applies to you.

• Route A: a degree at level 7 or higher, studied full-time for at least 30 weeks in New ZealandOne of two ALTERNATIVE routes — not required if Route B applies. Covers level 8 postgraduate diplomas, level 9 master's degrees and level 10 doctorates. This route does not tie your job to your field of study.
• Route B: a non-degree qualification at level 7 or lower, on INZ's eligible list — and the job must relate to your studyThe other ALTERNATIVE route, and the more constrained one. Three extra conditions ride on it: the qualification must appear on INZ's published list, the study must have been full-time for the qualification's full duration, and the job you take must relate to what you studied — INZ writes that restriction into your visa conditions.
• Chest x-ray if staying over 6 months and linked to a higher-TB-incidence countryApplies by citizenship OR by where you have spent time — more than 3 months in the last 5 years in a country without a low incidence of TB. A previously supplied x-ray does not always carry over: 6 continuous months in such a country since your last certificate means a new one. The country list is INZ's and is not reproduced here.
• Not completing the qualification named on your student visa can sink the applicationNot a requirement — INZ's own warning, and worth surfacing because it catches people who switched programmes mid-study and assume the final qualification is all that matters.
• Lets you stay and work for up to 3 years, depending on your qualificationWhat the visa grants rather than what it demands. The duration follows the level of the qualification and how long you studied for it.
• Your partner can apply for a work visa and your children for student visasA right the visa carries, not a requirement. Each of those is its own visa with its own criteria.
• NOT YET IN FORCE — from 16 November 2026, eligibility extends to a level 7 graduate diploma plus a bachelor's degreeFUTURE-DATED. Extraction ran 2026-08-22, so this is announced and not yet law. Recorded rather than dropped because it decides whether someone currently ineligible should wait to apply; recorded as not-required rather than as eligibility because today it grants nothing. The bachelor's degree may be from New Zealand or overseas, but the graduate diploma must have been studied full-time in New Zealand.