The recent reports bring forth that students aspiring to study in New Zealand would now be able to obtain a student visa in a much easier and transparent way. To make New Zealand a much popular destination in comparison to the UK, the USA, Canada or Australia; a new type of student visa would make way, thus making it easier for the overseas students.

The announcement of a new type of student visa was made recently by New Zealand’s Immigration Minister, Jonathan Coleman and he opined that the introduction of the new type of visa would counter the prevalent red tapism. To make the visa process speedier and less stringent, interim visas would be issued while a student’s application is still being processed. In addition, background checks and medical examination renewals would also only be needed to be completed every three years instead of every two years.

However, all the students would still have to meet all the standard criteria, but the new visa would provide peace of mind for students and would make the enrolment process smoother for education providers. The proposed changes would take effect from February 2011 and would also bring a spite of relief to the 2 billion Dollar education export industry of New Zealand.

Appreciating the changes, Col. BS Sandhu (Retd) CMD, WWICS said that the new changes would surely add to the popularity of New Zealand as a study abroad destination country. He added that students are keen to study in the beautiful country New Zealand; however, the stringent rules and less transparency posed as stumbling blocks. With the new visa type, New Zealand would surely witness more students eager to study in the country.