Want to stay and work in New Zealand after you graduate?

The Post Study Work Visa is a temporary work visa for international students who have completed an eligible qualification in New Zealand.

Its purpose is to let you gain New Zealand work experience after you graduate. You do not need a job offer to apply, which is what makes it different from most other work visas. You apply on the strength of your qualification alone, then look for work once you have it.

For most graduates it is the bridge between studying here and either moving onto an employer-backed work visa or building toward residence.

Eligibility turns on what you studied, where you studied it, and how long you studied for.

Degree level 7 and above

If you hold a degree at Level 7 or higher on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework, you must have studied full-time in New Zealand for at least 30 weeks.

That 30-week requirement catches people out. A one-year master’s completed in New Zealand qualifies. A master’s where most of the study happened offshore, or where you were enrolled for fewer than 30 weeks here, may not.

Non-degree Level 7 and below

If your qualification is a non-degree at Level 7 or below, two things must be true. Your qualification must appear on Immigration New Zealand’s list of qualifications eligible for a Post Study Work Visa, and you must have studied full-time in New Zealand for the full duration required to gain it.

There is no partial credit here. Completing most of a qualification, or completing it faster through cross-crediting, does not meet the requirement.

Doctoral students

If you are completing a doctorate, you become eligible once you have submitted your thesis for examination. You do not have to wait for the result. You will need confirmation from your education provider.

Everyone also needs

• To have successfully completed the qualification your student visa was granted for
• At least NZD 5,000 available to support yourself
• To meet health and character requirements

Up to three years, but very few people simply get three. For most graduates the length of the visa matches the time spent studying full-time in New Zealand.

Master’s and doctoral graduates get three years regardless of how long the qualification actually took. For everyone else, study time and visa length track each other.

Two details worth knowing

Qualifications at degree level 7 and 8 can be completed consecutively for a longer visa. At non-degree level 7 and below, they cannot. Stacking two non-degree qualifications will not earn you extra time.

Immigration New Zealand works out your visa length from your offer of place or a letter from your education provider. If you took longer than the programme was scheduled to run, the extra time does not count.

This depends entirely on your qualification level, and it is the difference between an open visa and a restricted one.

Degree level 7 and above: open work rights

You can work in any occupation, for any employer, anywhere in New Zealand. There are no conditions tying you to a role or a region.

Non-degree level 7 and below: restricted to your field

You must work in a role directly relating to the qualification you completed. The occupation is named against your qualification on Immigration New Zealand’s list, and the restriction appears in your visa conditions.

This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the visa. Graduates in this group sometimes take the first job they are offered, only to find it does not match the occupation their visa allows. That is a breach of visa conditions, not a technicality.

If you are in this group, check the occupation named against your qualification before you accept a job, not after.

Self-employment

You can be self-employed on a Post Study Work Visa, but you cannot employ other people in your business. INZ confirmed this position in April 2026 (Visa Pak 668). Note that the rules are different on the new Short Term Graduate Work Visa, covered below, where self-employment is not permitted at all.

This is the deadline that catches the most people, because it is short and it runs from your student visa rather than your graduation.

• Most applicants: no later than 3 months after your student visa expires
• Doctoral graduates: no later than 6 months after your student visa expires

There is one useful exception. If you completed a bachelor’s degree immediately followed by an honours or postgraduate diploma qualification, and held consecutive student visas for both, you can apply within 3 months of the end date of the student visa for the second qualification.

If you moved straight into a higher qualification

If you finished an eligible qualification and immediately started a higher-level one that does not itself qualify for a Post Study Work Visa, for example because you studied it for fewer than 30 weeks, you can still apply based on your first qualification. In that situation you have 12 months from the end date of the student visa for the initial qualification.

Miss the deadline and you no longer meet this requirement of a Post Study Work Visa, which is why the timing is worth planning before your final semester rather than after it.

No. You can only be granted a Post Study Work Visa once.

Returning to study a higher qualification later does not reset this. Someone who used a Post Study Work Visa after a bachelor’s degree cannot get a second one after a master’s.

From 16 November 2026 this extends further. A previous Post Study Work Visa holder will also be barred from the new Short Term Graduate Work Visa.

The practical consequence is that when you use this visa matters as much as whether you qualify. It is a single, non-renewable opportunity, and using it after your first qualification means it is not there after your second.

Immigration New Zealand announced two changes in March 2026, both taking effect on 16 November 2026.

1. A new Short Term Graduate Work Visa

This is a new visa for graduates who complete a qualification in New Zealand but do not qualify for a Post Study Work Visa. It gives 6 months of open work rights, intended to provide time to find employment and move onto an Accredited Employer Work Visa.

2. Post Study Work Visa eligibility widens

Graduates who complete a Graduate Diploma at Level 7 in New Zealand will become eligible for a Post Study Work Visa if they also hold a bachelor’s degree, completed either in New Zealand or overseas.

To qualify you must have studied full-time in New Zealand for the entire duration of the Graduate Diploma, and have been enrolled for the whole programme. Cross-crediting and recognition of prior learning are excluded.

The length of the visa on this route is expected to follow the usual rule for non-master’s qualifications: it matches the time you spent studying the Graduate Diploma in New Zealand, so for a one-year Graduate Diploma, one year.

This is a meaningful opening. Graduate Diploma students have generally been shut out of post-study work rights despite holding a prior degree.

From 16 November 2026, this visa offers 6 months of open work rights to graduates who do not qualify for a Post Study Work Visa.

To be eligible you must hold a qualification at Level 5 to 7 that:

• Was studied full-time in New Zealand for at least 24 weeks
• Is not an English language, foundation or bridging qualification
• Does not make you eligible for a Post Study Work Visa

You must also:

• Have at least NZD 5,000 available to support yourself
• Not have previously been granted a Short Term Graduate Work Visa or a Post Study Work Visa
• Provide written approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade or Education New Zealand, if your study was supported under the New Zealand Scholarship Programme
• Hold a valid medical certificate and chest X-ray, depending on your intended length of stay

What you can and cannot do on it

You can work for employers under an employment agreement, and you can work under a contract for services. You cannot own a business, and self-employment is not permitted. This is stricter than the Post Study Work Visa, which does allow self-employment.

Six months is a short runway. It is designed to get you into an Accredited Employer Work Visa rather than to be an end in itself, so the job search should start before the visa does.

The Post Study Work Visa fee is NZD 1,670, which is made up of the application fee and the Immigration Levy. Only one applicant is ever included in a Post Study Work Visa application, so there is no family variation.

You will also need to show NZD 5,000 in available funds, and budget for a medical examination and police certificates if you are asked for them.

Police certificates

If you will be staying in New Zealand longer than two years from your initial date of arrival, and you have not submitted police certificates with a previous visa application, you will need to provide them from your country of citizenship and from every country in which you have spent more than five years since the age of 17, not including New Zealand. Certificates take time to arrange from some countries, so start early.

For current processing times, check Immigration New Zealand’s fees and decision times finder.

Yes. A Post Study Work Visa can support visas for your immediate family.

• Your partner can apply for a work visa based on your Post Study Work Visa
• Your dependent children up to the age of 19 can apply for student visas and study as domestic students

Partners must meet the partnership requirements in their own right, which means evidence of a genuine and stable relationship. For what INZ expects on that evidence, see our Proof of Relationship Guide.

This does not carry across to the new Short Term Graduate Work Visa. Partner of a Worker work visas are only available to partners of people whose visa allows a stay of more than six months, and the Short Term Graduate Work Visa is a six month visa.

This is the part most guides leave out, and it is the reason the timing of this visa matters so much.

A Post Study Work Visa is temporary. It is not a residence pathway in itself. What it gives you is the window in which to build the New Zealand work experience that residence pathways require.

The usual sequence

• Complete your qualification and apply for a Post Study Work Visa
• Find skilled employment during that visa
• Move onto an Accredited Employer Work Visa, or apply for residence directly if you already qualify
• Apply for residence under the Skilled Migrant Category, or a Green List pathway if your occupation is listed

Why the changes on 24 August 2026 matter to graduates

The Skilled Migrant Category changed on 24 August 2026, and two of those changes work in favour of people who studied here.

First, qualifications completed in New Zealand now attract more points than the same qualification completed overseas. A New Zealand bachelor’s degree is worth 5 points, where an overseas bachelor’s degree is worth 4.

Second, because you can now score 5 points under the Skilled Migrant Category for a New Zealand bachelor’s degree, you only need 12 months of skilled work experience, worth 1 point, to reach the 6 point mark.

Read those two together and the shape of the opportunity is clear. A graduate with a New Zealand bachelor’s degree and a three-year Post Study Work Visa has room to complete that year of skilled work experience well inside the visa they already hold.

The trap to avoid

Not all work counts. Skilled work experience has to be in an occupation at the right skill level and paid at or above the applicable wage threshold. Time spent in a job that does not meet those tests does not count toward residence, however hard you worked.

Check early which wage threshold applies to you, in our Immigration Median Wage Guide. For the residence pathways themselves, see our Skilled Migrant Category Guide.

From what we see, problems cluster in a few predictable places.

The application deadline is missed

Three months sounds generous until you are moving house, travelling home to see family, starting a new job, or simply assuming the deadline runs from graduation day. It runs from your student visa expiry, and there is no extension.

The 30-week requirement is not met

Graduates who completed part of a degree offshore, or who transferred in with credit, sometimes find they did not study here for long enough to qualify.

Working outside the allowed occupation

For non-degree Level 7 and below graduates, taking a job outside the occupation named against your qualification breaches your visa conditions.

Using the visa at the wrong point

Because you only get one, using it after a first qualification means it is not available after a second. This is worth thinking through before you enrol in further study, not after.

Assuming any job builds toward residence

Work that is not at the right skill level, or not paid at the applicable threshold, does not count toward a residence pathway. Three years of the wrong work leaves you no closer than you were on the day you graduated.

Not planning the next visa early enough

A Post Study Work Visa ends. Moving onto an Accredited Employer Work Visa requires an accredited employer and an approved Job Check, and that takes time. See our Accredited Employer Work Visa Guide.

Do I need a job offer to apply?
No. The Post Study Work Visa is granted on the strength of your qualification. You find work once you hold it.

How long is a Post Study Work Visa in New Zealand?
Up to 3 years. Master’s and doctoral graduates get 3 years. For other qualifications the visa length matches the time you spent studying full-time in New Zealand.

Can I get a Post Study Work Visa twice?
No. It can only be granted once, and further study at a higher level does not reset that. From 16 November 2026, a previous Post Study Work Visa also rules you out of the Short Term Graduate Work Visa.

Can I work in any job?
If your qualification is a degree at Level 7 or above, yes, any occupation and any employer. If it is a non-degree at Level 7 or below, you must work in an occupation specified on your Post Study Work Visa which is relevant to your qualification.

Can I be self-employed?
Yes, on a Post Study Work Visa you can be self-employed, but you cannot employ other people. On the Short Term Graduate Work Visa, self-employment is not permitted.

What happens if I miss the 3-month deadline to apply?
You no longer meet this requirement of a Post Study Work Visa. If you are close to the deadline, take advice quickly rather than waiting.

Can I extend a Post Study Work Visa?
No. It cannot be extended. Before it ends, you either move onto another visa, usually an Accredited Employer Work Visa, or apply for residence if you qualify.

Does a Post Study Work Visa lead to residence?
Not directly, but it is where most graduates build the skilled New Zealand work experience that residence pathways require. Since 24 August 2026, a New Zealand bachelor’s degree is worth 5 Skilled Migrant Category points, so one year of skilled work experience can be enough.

What is the Short Term Graduate Work Visa?
A new visa from 16 November 2026 giving 6 months of open work rights to graduates who hold a Level 5 to 7 qualification studied full-time in New Zealand for at least 24 weeks but who do not qualify for a Post Study Work Visa.

Can my partner work if I hold a Post Study Work Visa?
Yes. Your partner can apply for a work visa, and dependent children can apply for student visas and study as domestic students. This does not apply to the Short Term Graduate Work Visa.