Anything you can do, we can do better. That seems to be the case with visa fees as New Zealand hikes its education visa to NZ$750 (per year).
In a recent announcement from Immigration NZ new visa fees will be set. “From 1 October, new visa charges will be set at an appropriate level to recover the costs of processing a visa and reflect the benefits received by people using immigration services.”
According to the table released on the new fees a student visa fee will double from NZ$375 to $750.
Astutely, CEO of Global Reach, Ravi Lochan Singh said on LinkedIn “It is not correct that Aussie visa fee is most expensive. It is very expensive but now NZ has gone a notch further. By doubling the visa fee it is now NZ$750 per year of the course. Aussie visa fee of $1600 gets a student visa for the full degree duration but in NZ case it’s for each year. Just add up the cost for a 3-4 year degree and compare.”
This would mean while students studying in Australia will pay a once-off fee of AU$1600.00, NZ students will be slugged the fee per year of studying meaning:
a 2 year program would be NZ$1500.00
a 3 year bachelor’s degree would be NZ$2250.00
a 4 year bachelor’s degree would be NZ$3000.00
This is significant.
TKN compares against the exchange of the USD.
| Program duration | Australia (1AUD:0.67 USD) | USD | New Zealand | USD (1NZD:0.61 USD) |
| 2years | $1600 | $1072 | $1500 | $915 |
| 3 years | $1600 | $1072 | $2250 | $1372 |
| 4 years | $1600 | $1072 | $3000 | $1830 |
The tipping point clearly is between a 3 and 4-year program.
The Koala awaits other countries’ move in the visa fee space and looks with interest to see how students and their families react.
