Students seek action on visas
A group of international students who have been in limbo for the past year are calling on the Government to restart visa processing, so they can begin their studies when the border reopens.
Immigration New Zealand stopped processing visa applications in August, as a result of the border closure.
The Government announced 250 international students would be allowed into the country, with priority going to PhD students, but those without a visa are ineligible.
Auckland University PhD candidate Nima Shokrollahi, from Iran, applied for his student visa in December 2019, but it was not processed before the suspension. He is now worried he will lose his scholarship before he is told whether his visa application has been successful.
Shokrollahi started studying towards his degree online, but was told by the Iranian education minister that if he completed a year of his PhD online, it would not be certified in the country.
His research was also largely experimental, and could not easily be done from Iran.
He is part of a group of 45 Iranian students calling on the Government to start processing student visas for PhD students again, and for there to be a clear path for them to be able to re-enter the country.
Fellow Iranian student Saghar Hashemi said applying for a PhD was a complicated process, and it was difficult to have a plan B.
She submitted her visa application to study for her PhD at Auckland University of Technology in February. Like Shokrollahi, she did not receive a visa before the suspension.
The university and her supervisor had been supportive, deferring her course several times but, if she cannot enter New Zealand before July 2021, her scholarship would expire. ‘‘I quit my job and career but now, for more than eight months, New Zealand has not made any clear plan for international students, therefore I cannot make any plan for my life now.’’
Her thesis is related to New Zealand building science and city context, making
it difficult for her to study from Iran.
Auckland University PhD candidate Shirin Biglari said now the election was over, and there were promising results from vaccine trials, international students were asking the Government for two things: a plan for their return to New Zealand and for visa applications to start being processed.
‘‘We just want the New Zealand Government to provide us with a clear plan with what they will do. Will they lift suspensions, will they start processing visas and will the PhD students have some sort of merit over other cohorts, for example undergraduates or tourists, because the number of PhD students is very limited.’’
An Immigration NZ spokesperson said it had 7289 student visa applications awaiting processing. ‘‘From August 10, applications for visas were suspended for people offshore. The applications on hand were lodged before the August 10 suspension but were unable to be processed before the border closed. At this time, therefore, any processing of offshore student visa applications will only take place if the person is someone to whom a border exception applies.’’
The Government would consider new border exemptions as circumstances permit.