Hi everybody...

This is my first time posting in this forum. Thanks in advance for your time reading/commenting my post!

Well as the title indicates, I have got this headache trying to figure out which alternatives should I go for my visa.

My Case:

I am a full-time postgrad student with a 36 months visa. My 3-year study period is going to end on 31st October and my visa on 30th Nov this year. However, due to the nature of my study which is more into practical environmental works, I could not possibly finish my study on time and this circumstance is well appreciated by my supervisor.

My study is funded by a grant and my supervisor would want to use it to financially support me during the extension which is strongly depending on my field work progresses. On my visa part, I was personally asked by my supervisor to think about applying visa that would allow me to work as a research assistant (EFTS 0.5 or so) under the study grant so that i would not need to worry about short visa expiry period e.g if I were to renew my visa, it would just be 1 year. There is one student in my department who works in this condition towards her study but she's a Kiwi and thus no visa required but in my case I do need a visa.

Consciously aware of the University maximum EFTS 4.0, I was thinking to take deferral from my study but at the same time continuously working towards finishing everything. However, I have no sensible idea on what visa I should apply under these circumstances. I have referred to the INZ website but found nothing that suiting my conditions.

I hope I could seek some idea/advice on how to proceed or what other alternative options I could possibly consider.

Thank you very much.