09 August 2012

Work rights on Student Visas in Christchurch

New Zealand’s Minister of Immigration has just announced changes that will give work rights to more of Languages International’s students in Christchurch. From August 27th, students will be able to work for up to 20 hours per week if:

▪                they are studying in a full-time course for 14 weeks or more, and

▪                they have a current Student Visa, and

▪                they are attending a Christchurch school, such as Languages International, that has achieved the highest confidence ratings in NZQA’s quality assurance system

The key changes are that students no longer have to be enrolled for 6 months, and they no longer have to achieve IELTS 5.0 to qualify for the work right. The new work rights scheme will be trialled in Christchurch and the Canterbury region for the next 18 months and then be reviewed. If you’d like more information, please see the Immigration New Zealand website, or contact us.