After two years of mounting rejection rates, Indian students are seeing a turnaround in their New Zealand visa applications. New figures from Immigration New Zealand (INZ) reveal an increase in approval rates for 2025, signalling renewed momentum in the country’s efforts to revive its international education sector.
Between 1 January and 22 June this year, INZ received 6,548 student visa applications from Indian nationals. Of these, 4,780 were approved and 1,501 declined, resulting in an approval rate of 75.4 percent and a rejection rate of 23.7 percent, RNZ reported.
This marks a substantial improvement from 2024, when only 58.9 percent of the 14,313 applications from Indian students were approved. In that year, the rejection rate stood at 39.5 percent.
In 2023, 6,523 of the 11,537 applications were approved, translating to a 62.7 percent approval rate and a 34.9 percent rejection rate.
INZ’s Director of Visa, Celia Coombes, attributed the increase in approval rates to enhanced collaboration with the education sector and immigration agents. She said the agency had also clarified the type of information needed for a successful application.
Coombes noted that current 2025 year-to-date figures showed higher approval rates for both India and China compared to the previous two years. The rejection rate for Chinese student applications has dropped to 1.6 percent in 2025, down from 2.9 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2023.
The improvement in visa approvals comes as New Zealand ramps up efforts to revitalise its international education sector.More than half of New Zealand’s universities are now offering tailored packages for Indian students, featuring scholarships and fee concessions, with five institutions actively rolling out these initiatives.
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