The New Zealand government has recently made several changes in the visa and work rules for international students. While the aim of these new rules is to increase the number of foreign students, there are some changes that can create problems especially for Indian students.
Now if an Indian student wants to change the course or university during studies, he will have to apply for a new student visa instead of just a visa variation. This can make the visa process longer and more expensive, and also increases the risk of visa rejection.
This will be a problem for Indian students
Apart from this, separate written permission from school and parents has also been made mandatory for permission to work for some courses and school level students. This has made the process even more complicated for younger students. Not only this, students who already have a visa and want to take advantage of the new 25-hour weekly work limit will also have to get their visa updated again. This means that time, paperwork and expenses will increase. Although New Zealand has removed the requirement of IQA for Indian degree holders, this facility is beneficial only for those students whose degree has been completed from India. Students who are currently studying in India or are in the process will still have to keep many rules in mind.
Relief as well as trouble
Another big concern is that increasing work hours will also increase competition. If more students do part-time jobs, Indian students may have to face tough competition from local people or students from other countries in getting jobs. Overall, the changed rules of New Zealand are definitely a relief in some ways, but if looked at carefully, these changes can make the visa process a bit more complicated and expensive. In such a situation, Indian students will need to be very cautious at every step, so that the flight of dreams after going abroad does not turn into a landing of complications.
