Study in New Zealand

Study in New Zealand

About New Zealand

Geography

New Zealand is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, just south of Australia. The country is not part of Australia and has never been (many people make that error), but it has been its own country since the late 19th century. Before then, the country was actually considered to be part of the United Kingdom, and was under the laws and jurisdiction of the crown. New Zealand is actually a number of smaller islands, with two main islands (the North Island, also called Te Ika-a-Māui by the natives, and the South Island, also called Te Waipounamu) that comprise most of the land area of the country.

Why New Zealand?

Why would you work while studying in New Zealand? Here are a few of the most popular reasons that you will hear from other people when trying to decide whether or not you should be working while you are studying abroad. Instead of just riding on loans and other aid, a job can provide you with the following benefits.

• You can ensure that you have the money available so that you can prove your eligibility for a student visa to start with. Having a job secured can make the process of ensuring your funding when you apply for your student visa.
• You can use the money to enjoy yourself and sustain yourself while you are residing in the country, so you can alleviate any stress that may occur because of monetary reasons. Money can be stressful, so you may as well do something to help alleviate that stress so that you can focus on your studies and do better while you are earning your degree.
• Some studies suggest that if you work while you are in school, your grades are actually better, as long as you are working a reasonable amount of hours. That’s part of the reason why New Zealand actually restricts the number of hours that you work to 20 per week during the semester.
• You will get work experience, which can be valuable to you when you graduate. In some cases, it can even assist with your studies to a point. An important note to realize: if you are getting educational experience at your job, you may want to see if you can get academic credit for it. If you can, you can actually work for more than 20 hours per week because it is considered to be part of your program.
• You may even get to travel while working, depending on what you do. That way, you get to see more of the country and earn some cash while you are doing it.

There are a number of stipulations that you must adhere to if you are looking to work while you are studying in New Zealand. There used to be a number of things that you need to do in order to be able to work. You used to have to apply for what is called a variation of condition, which allowed you to work for 20 hours per week during the semester, and 40 hours per week during the Christmas and New Year’s break, which is equivalent to the summer university break in the northern countries. You were not allowed to work during the break in between semesters (June and July) at all. The exception, of course, is if you were taking an internship or apprenticeship as part of your educational program. If you breached this at all, or tried to work without permission from Immigration New Zealand, then you could lose your visa and be deported from the country.

Now, in January of 2014, these rules went through a very large overhaul. It became much easier for international students on a visa to be able to work while they are studying. Here are some of the ways that these rules changed.