Notice, every application to INZ is a legal document. By submitting it, you are stating that all your answers are the truth, right THEN. So looking at the requirements for a visa, the applicant must be
already able to fulfil each one
at the time of submission. (There have been people who honestly thought it would be all right to claim something early, but it fell through unexpectedly, e.g. their degree, when they'd been doing well all through the course, but then had an accident and couldn't sit the final exam; or x years' work experience, then the employer went bankrupt and made all the employees redundant three weeks before those years would have been completed. That is why INZ won't accept anything but provable certainty about any requirement listed.)