Study in New Zealand for Indian Students: Visa, Work Rights and Fees, 2026-27

To study in New Zealand as a fee-paying international student you need a student visa from Immigration New Zealand (INZ). You must show NZD 20,000 for each year of living costs, and your tuition is on top of that. During your studies, eligible students can work up to 25 hours a week. After you graduate, the post-study work visa lets you stay and work for up to 3 years, depending on your study.

Two rules changed recently and many older guides still show the old ones: the weekly work limit rose from 20 to 25 hours on 3 November 2025, and who qualifies for the post-study work visa widens on 16 November 2026.

For the fee-paying student visa, INZ asks for an offer of place from an approved education provider that has signed the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021. You must also show enough money for tuition and living costs, or an acceptable sponsor or scholarship, and meet health and character requirements, including police certificates where required.

INZ also expects a genuine intention to study and to leave New Zealand at the end of your stay, full medical and travel insurance acceptable to your provider, evidence of onward travel or money to buy a ticket, and a passport valid for at least 3 months after you plan to leave.

On the money: INZ says tuition fees are in addition to the NZD 20,000, and you must show you can access both. Generally you must have paid tuition in full for one year or one programme, whichever is shorter, or meet another listed option, such as approval in principle. Funds must come from a source INZ can confirm and be genuinely available to you in New Zealand.

Since 3 November 2025, the number of hours eligible student visa holders can work has risen from 20 to 25 a week, according to Immigration New Zealand. The change applies to new student visas granted from that date, even if the application was submitted earlier.

If you already hold a visa with the old 20-hour condition, you do not get the extra hours automatically. INZ says you can apply for a variation of conditions, which costs NZD 325, or wait and include the change in your next visa application. Your visa's own work conditions decide what applies to you, so check them before you accept hours.

The post-study work visa lets you stay and work in New Zealand for up to 3 years, depending on your study. INZ lists the fee as from NZD 1,670, and you must show at least NZD 5,000 in total for your stay. Degree-level graduates (level 7 and above, which includes postgraduate diplomas, master's degrees and doctorates) can work in any job, and the study must have been full-time for at least 30 weeks in New Zealand. Most applicants must apply within 3 months after their student visa expires, and doctoral graduates have 6 months.

From 16 November 2026, INZ says eligibility will be extended to applicants who have an NZQCF level 7 graduate diploma that they studied full-time for in New Zealand, and a bachelor's degree that they completed in New Zealand or overseas. The INZ page does not spell out further conditions for these groups, so read the live page before you rely on this if it affects your plan.

The table shows the QS World University Rankings 2027 position for six New Zealand universities, as reported on each university's own pages. We have not listed every New Zealand university, only those we could confirm, so a university missing here is not a judgement on it.

New Zealand universities price by subject and by the points you take, so there is no single national fee. The table shows the published estimates for two universities, for a full-time year of 120 points, in New Zealand dollars. They are tuition only, and each university charges extra for student services and insurance.

We could not retrieve clean fee figures for the other universities, so we have left them out rather than guess. Check each university's own international fees page for your course.

New Zealand is a clear, rules-based option if you can show the money. Plan on at least NZD 20,000 a year for living costs plus tuition that, at the two universities we checked, runs from about NZD 36,000 to 58,000 a year depending on the degree. Then use the work rights well: 25 hours a week during study, and up to 3 years of post-study work for qualifying graduates.

Two things to watch: INZ's starting visa fee is a floor, and the post-study eligibility change on 16 November 2026 is recent, so confirm both on Immigration New Zealand's own pages before you pay or plan.