In order to be eligible to apply for a Post Study Work Visa, you must have completed a qualification assessed at level 4 or above on the NZQF. All university level study in New Zealand, from bachelors upward, meets this criteria.

If you’ve completed a qualification at level 7 (Bachelors) or above, you can work for any employer, in any job. If your qualification is below degree level you’ll be required to work in a job that’s related to what you studied, and have done a qualification that’s on the Qualifications Eligible for a Post Study Work Visa list.

The duration of your post study work visa will depend on how long you’ve studied in New Zealand. If you have studied a three year Bachelors degree, you will be eligible for a three-year Post Study Work Visa. If you have done a one-year Postgraduate Diploma, you’ll be eligible for a one-year Post Study Work Visa. This rule doesn’t apply to Masters and PhD students, however, who continue to be eligible for a three-year post-study work visa.

New Zealand qualification levels

When looking at Immigration New Zealand rules around study visas you will see frequent references to a qualification’s ‘level’, numbered from 1-10. These refer to the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF), which covers a range of qualifications from certificates to doctoral degrees.

The levels are based on how complex the learning is.

• Secondary school qualifications, for example, are covered by levels 1 – 3 of the NZQF.
• Level 7 qualifications include bachelors degrees, graduate certificates and graduate diplomas.
• Level 8 refers to postgraduate certificates and postgraduate diplomas.
• Level 9 refers to masters degrees (studied by coursework or by research, or by a combination of the two), and Level 10 refers to PhD.