OUSA Exec: How Rising Visa Fees Will Affect You

Posted 3:53pm Saturday 7th September 2024 by Ibuki Nishida

Konnichiwa besties, International Rep Buki here. If you haven’t heard, there was a shocking announcement from the government last month that visa fees will skyrocket from the 1st of October. Student visas are doubling from $375 to $750. Post-Study Work visas are more than doubling, rising Read more...

International Students Stuck Between A Complex and a Hard Place

Posted 6:56pm Friday 5th August 2022 by Keegan Wells

Nine American international students have been put into an Airbnb “complex” up on Heriot Row, paying US$2,000 more for the semester than what they were originally offered – and not even getting a Kiwihost for the privilege.  These nine students were put into this Read more...

Opinion: International Students Deserve More Scholarships

Posted 7:48pm Friday 5th August 2022 by Keegan Wells

International students pay around five times as much as domestic students and don’t receive first year fees free. Yes, the government partially subsidises university fees, including fees free, and international students or their parents have not been paying taxes to the government, so it makes Read more...

Student Visa Backlog due to “Capacity Issues”

Posted 1:59pm Sunday 1st May 2022 by Zak Rudin

Despite borders reopening and Aotearoa once again officially ‘open’ to international students, eager student travellers have hit one critical snag: Immigration New Zealand (INZ). Processing struggles have left many overseas students in limbo as a result.  Since April 12, Aotearoa Read more...

Offshore Students Frustrated but Hopeful

Posted 3:04pm Sunday 27th February 2022 by Ransford Antwi

Hundreds of international Otago students are stuck overseas, paying full fees for an educational experience that many feel is not reflective of the cost.  If you thought a few weeks of online lectures and Zoom tutes was rough, imagine what it’s like to be an international student stuck Read more...

New Residency Pathway Excludes Upcoming International Graduates

Posted 3:33pm Friday 1st October 2021 by Fox Meyer

International students about to graduate from the Uni will just miss the deadline for an exciting new residency visa application. Those who graduated before September 29 2021 will be eligible. Many international students began a degree this year as a means of staying in New Zealand. Upon Read more...

International Students: Far From Home

Posted 3:02pm Sunday 26th September 2021 by Keegan Wells

While it’s been a rough couple of years for all of us, international students, or as the University probably refers to them, ‘our largest source of income’, have had a particularly tough pandemic. Otago Uni reports that out of the 20,700 students in 2020, international students Read more...

International Students “Neglected” During Lockdown

Posted 1:41pm Sunday 5th September 2021 by Denzel Chung

Major avenues for international students to get financial support have been shut down by the Government, with no replacement in sight. The New Zealand International Students’ Association (NZISA) have claimed this shows international students are being “neglected” by both the Read more...

Government Providing 400 MIQ Spots for International Students in June

Posted 3:45pm Sunday 16th May 2021 by Elliot Weir

More international students will be able to come to Otago Uni from June, with 400 spots in MIQ set aside for international students.  The New Zealand International Students’ Association welcomed the news and said that the “lack of MIQ spaces has been a long-standing problem for Read more...

Universities Provide MIQ Subsidy for International Students

Posted 2:34pm Sunday 21st March 2021 by Erin Gourley

New Zealand’s universities, including Otago, have agreed to subsidise 50% of the cost of MIQ for returning international students. The New Zealand International Students’ Association (NZISA) announced the subsidy in a Facebook post on Friday 12 March. “NZISA applauds the Read more...