New Zealand study in midlife or after an Australian refusal

Can I consider study in New Zealand in midlife or after an Australian visa refusal?

Applicants aged 30–45 can consider study in New Zealand and bring a partner and children. Those with an Australian visa refusal may still have an option in New Zealand. Most institutions require IELTS 6 for entry, while around IELTS 5 allows an English language course.

New Zealand welcomes accompanying dependants of international students, and those dependants have work rights.

Mid-career New Zealand study-to-migration pathway cover graphic

Today we would like to introducestudying in New Zealand

Today we are recommending that two groups of applicants give serious consideration to studying in New Zealand as a stepping stone to migration

1. Mid-career applicants who wish to migrate via study

2. Applicants with a history of Australian visa refusal

Let us start with the first group: mid-career applicants pursuing study-to-migration

As offshore-only skilled migration to Australia becomes increasingly difficult, many applicants aged 30-35 are looking to achieve their migration goal through study.

We are often asked questions such as:

I am a 30-year-old accountant in China — can I study nursing to migrate?

I am a 35-year-old architect in China — can I enter on a Student visa, study, and wait for an invitation?

Non-traditional-age applicants coming to Australia to study are not exactly being welcomed with open arms at present.

Securing a school offer is the small hurdle; the Student visa is the big one. The older you are, the harder it gets — bringing dependants makes it harder still, and enrolling in a lower-level course than you already hold will push your refusal risk up further. If you already have a masters and want to come to do a TAFE trade course, that is the hardest scenario of all.

As qualified professionals, we will never boast that success is 100 % guaranteed — nor will we dismiss a case out of hand and say it cannot be done.

If you come to us, we will assess your case responsibly on its own merits, and at the same time recommend New Zealand.

Why do we recommend New Zealand?

Because ages 30-45 are accepted — yes;

Because you can bring your spouse and children — yes;

Because visa processing is fast — yes;

Because it links through to migration — yes;

New Zealand is the answer.

Here are some typical success stories:

One of our clients, in his forties and married, was preparing to study overseas with his spouse. He applied to many Australian schools — virtually every one of them rejected the application. However, when counselling him we had kept a card up our sleeve and advised him to apply to Australia and New Zealand in parallel, and in the end this client successfully secured an offer from a New Zealand institution.

New Zealand admission offer for a married client in their forties

On the visa side, because the applicant was bringing his spouse, we also prepared a large package of supporting documents and written submissions for the New Zealand case officer, and the client ultimately received a successful grant.

New Zealand student visa approval record for an applicant bringing a spouse

If you are 30 or over, by the time you finish a two-year masters you will most likely be around 33, and at that point you can no longer score full points on age for Australian skilled migration, so skilled migration is no longer working in your favour. Many applicants tell us they want to improve their English, but since they have been out of the classroom for so long and are trying to hold down a job in China while studying English, scoring above IELTS 6 really is no easy task.This is where New Zealand has another advantage: most schools only require IELTS 6 for entry, and an IELTS score of around 5 is enough to qualify for a packaged English pathway course. New Zealand also welcomes secondary applicants to accompany the student, and secondary applicants are granted work rights.

II. Applicants with a history of Australian visa refusal

For traditional-age students, Australia overall is still very welcoming — whether it is high-school leavers going into a bachelors (with or without a diploma pathway), or bachelors graduates moving into a masters. Our clients in these pathways have an extremely high grant rate.

But there is always a “but”.Some applicants are refused for no clear reason, some are refused because their case-officer phone interview was poorly prepared, and some are refused because an irresponsible or unprofessional competing agent botched the application.

Unfortunately, the cost of a failed first attempt on an Australian Student visa is very high right now — once you are refused the first time, the original school is very unlikely to issue you another offer for a second attempt, and other schools are almost equally unwilling to take you on, let alone if you still want to pursue a Student visa.

If you switch course to New Zealand, however, everything is still possible. Rather than labouring the point in words, let us go straight to several of our success stories!

New Zealand study success story following an Australian visa refusal

Admittedly, many applicants subjectively believe Australia is a better choice than New Zealand — but subjective preference has to be weighed against objective reality. If objectively you cannot get a visa granted and you cannot secure an offer, then no matter how attractive Australia looks in your mind, that preference achieves nothing. If you would like to understand your own prospects for study and migration in New Zealand, please contact our client-services team below and we will arrange a consultation for you!

New Zealand study-to-migration consultation contact graphic

(Filmed in 2021)

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