What Future holds for overseas prospective students?

[manutd]

Hi,

i want to ask for my brother. He wants to come to NZ on student visa. He is from Pakistan and visa facilitation offices in Pakistan are closed due to COVID-19. So, what can he do now??? should he wait until NZ immigration open their worldwide offices? or can he apply online and INZ may ask to send passports by courier to NZ??

Borders are closed anyway...but I hope that borders are opened in next couple of months or by end of the year...so does EGoodHue or JandM have any advice on the matter?

regards,

[Skizz]

I work in International Education and the general 'vibe' from our leadership is that we can expect overseas students again in early 2021 with some sort of quarantining situation. Of course, for that to happen, Immigration would need to open up a few months prior to start getting through what I'm sure is a significant backlog of offshore applications. Note this is all speculation, but that's the vague date we are shooting for.

[JandM]

Does your brother already have the offer of a place to study in New Zealand?

[manutd]

Hi JandM,
No, not yet. We were planning to apply but then pandemic happened...so we decided to wait until situation becomes clear

[satty02]

Hi JandM,
No, not yet. We were planning to apply but then pandemic happened...so we decided to wait until situation becomes clear

what's his plan? and the stream/education he is going to opt for?. If you have plans to just study and spend some time here like 2/3 years open work visa and then leave then it's fine, if the plan is to get residency post-study then it's a not a good idea to come to NZ, as already a massive backlog of application is there (more than 13,000+) for residency and the oldest application is from Dec 2018. So invest carefully and consider what your plans would be after he finishes his study?.

[JandM]

You will see here https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria the full criteria for obtaining a student visa, and they include having the offer of a place on a suitable course. Therefore, that will be the first necessity, even before knowing that an INZ office is open and accepting applications again. And I don't suppose that the universities and other education course providers will be making any offers to overseas students until the NZ government decides to reopen the borders, which the Prime Minister has said will not be done any time soon.