New Zealand’s Surge in Indian Student Visa Denials Raises Concerns

By Kai June 8, 2024
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New Zealand universities are aware that the rate of rejection for student visas from India is expected to be higher in 2024. Universities New Zealand, an organisation representing all eight tertiary institutions, has expressed its concerns to the government.

In 2022, the rejection rate for study visa applications from India was 28%, which rose to 40% in 2023, according to Immigration New Zealand.

An RNZ report stated that Whelan recently highlighted the issue, noting that Universities New Zealand data indicates that at the beginning of semester one, approximately 10% of visas remained unissued, with another 2% still pending.

According to Whelan, at the start of this year’s semester one, as much as 9% of visas for university study in New Zealand had yet to be assigned for processing by Immigration NZ, while 2% were still under review. He mentioned that 18% of all offered visas were not confirmed at the start of the term, causing confusion among students and inefficiencies in the system.

He said this uncertainty is detrimental to New Zealand’s reputation as an ideal study destination. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, international education was New Zealand’s fifth-largest source of export revenue. “We need to improve our approach if this country wants to benefit from international education,” Whelan said.

Higher Rejection Rates

New Zealand Bureau of Immigration trends indicate that Indian students are facing a 40% visa rejection rate in the first four months of 2024, a slight improvement from the 49% disapproval rate recorded earlier this year. Between January and April 2018, 5,018 applications were considered, with 2,010 being refused. In comparison, Chinese students faced a rejection rate of only 2%, with 206 rejections out of 7,012 applications submitted.

Source: ECONOMIC TIMES

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