The New Zealand immigration laws have improvised to make foreign students gain access to the NZ education system as reported by New Zealand Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman. The new policy grants Interim visas to the students while their visas are getting processed!

The time gap for providing the police clearance certificates as well as medical certificates is also extended. Coleman said that this change in the immigration policy will benefit the education export market. He also added that the changes will be brought to effect in February next year.

As long as the students are in New Zealand legally, the Interim visas will authorize them to pursue their education while their visas are in the procedural phase.

The students will be still required to meet the same standard requirements; however, the granting of the Interim visas will be a relief for the students, while the entire procedure may seem quite simple for the NZ education sector.

The current laws requires the foreign students to provide police and medical clearance certificates once in 2 years, but the latest update is the clearance certificate submission once in 3 years. Coleman said that this change will make the procedure relatively cheaper for the students as obtaining clearance certificates is an expensive affair, there have many application refusals because of the expiry of such documents.

The bachelor degree pursuing students will have to submit their documents just once instead of twice during their study term.

The New Zealand government granted visa to 94,000 foreign students. Of these students approximately 65,500 students were paying full tuition fees.