Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin
Immigration New Zealand will require all international students to apply for their visas online from 18 September.
"The new application form is dynamic, which means applicants will only need to answer questions relevant to their specific situation," Immigration New Zealand said in a statement.
The agency acknowledged the new form could take longer to complete, as it contained more questions and prompts for evidence.
However, it said collecting additional information up front would ultimately make processing times faster.
"Applicants will also receive email notifications and real-time status updates within their dashboard, giving applicants and their advisers more visibility of the applications progress and clarity around any action they need to take," the agency said.
Paper applications are no longer accepted for visa categories such as the English Language Student Visa, Exchange Student Visa, Fee Paying Student Visa, Pathway Student Visa, NZ Government Scholarship Student Visa and Foreign Government Supported Student Visa.
Immigration New Zealand said it had shifted international student visa applications to the enhanced online immigration system on 18 August.
It also said applications submitted on or before 17 August using the old form were being processed, but draft applications left in the old system must have either been submitted before 17 August or restarted in the new system.
The agency also said a new reporting facility for student visa applications was still being built, meaning only data from older applications was available for now.
"We acknowledge that for a short time this means our website timeliness reporting will not contain information for all applications we are processing, and it will take us some time to design, build and test the new reporting functionality," the agency said.
"Work is progressing well, and we are confident our enhanced reporting will be up and running in time for the student visa application summer peak that runs from October to the end of February."
The agency said applicants should submit applications at least three months prior to their intended date of arrival.
