Indian students hoping to study in New Zealand are facing major visa delays. They're now waiting almost twice as long as students from China. This long wait is causing a lot of stress about their future. The good news is that fewer visas are being rejected, but these processing delays are still a huge problem.
Indian students with dreams of studying in New Zealand are hitting a major roadblock: long visa delays. New data shows that Immigration New Zealand is taking nearly double the time to process visas for Indians compared to students from China.
According to figures released by RNZ, the waiting time has shot up significantly from last year. Indian students now have to wait for 30 working days, while Chinese students get their visas in just 16 days. This is a big jump from before, when Indian students used to get their visas in about 19 working days.
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Why the long delay?
Immigration New Zealand says a major reason is the sheer number of applications. They've seen an 11% jump in visa requests compared to the previous year. Officials also explained that applications from different countries have different levels of complexity, which affects how long they take to check.
Fewer rejections, but the anxiety is real
While the delays are frustrating, there is some good news. The number of visa rejections has gone down. A while back, almost half of all Indian applications were being rejected. Now, the approval rate has climbed to 75.4%, with only 23.7% of applications being turned down.
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The checks are tough!
The immigration department is being extra careful when checking applications from Indian students. They are closely looking at financial documents and whether the student genuinely intends to study. If students don't get their visa before their course starts, it could shake their faith in New Zealand as a study destination. The situation is especially bad for students enrolled in courses that have only one intake per year, as a delay could mean losing a whole academic year.
