In his mid-30s, working as a software engineer at a tech company. His wife in corporate finance. Their son, eight. When he first reached out to Edustar, he'd already drawn up a complete "study-to-immigration plan" — a one-year Master's for himself, a partner work visa for his wife, their son enrolled in a public primary school as a dependent. "I've read plenty of guides online. The plan should be pretty solid."
We didn't rush to tell him how much homework he'd done. The first thing we did was go through the assumptions in his plan, one by one.
The first one that didn't hold up: the children of Master's students attend public school at domestic fee rates.
Under New Zealand's rules, the dependent children of Master's students attending public school are still charged international student fees — they don't automatically qualify for domestic rates. Only when a parent is a doctoral student, holds a specific government scholarship, or already holds a work visa (including a Post-Study Work Visa) does the child move onto domestic fees.
Which meant: during the year he was studying for his Master's, his son would be paying international fees (around NZD 17,000 a year at an Auckland public primary school). Only once he graduated and obtained his Post-Study Work Visa would the rate switch.
He pulled out his earlier research notes and traced the "Master's families get public school free" line back to a single share post on a study-abroad forum — not an official source. "Lucky I hadn't signed anything yet," he said.
From there, we worked through three things with him:
Course choice. The one-year Master's he'd originally chosen was cheap, but it only qualified him for a one-year Post-Study Work Visa. Twelve months to find work, hit the wage threshold, and stabilise — tight. We suggested a two-year Master's instead, which qualifies for a three-year Post-Study Work Visa. The whole family's timeline becomes a lot less rushed.
Partner work visa. Whether his wife could get an open work visa hinged on whether the main applicant's course appeared on the relevant indicated list. We went through his shortlisted programmes one by one to confirm eligibility.
Residence pathway. This one we didn't promise. His wife works in corporate finance. Accounting and finance roles are generally classed as highly skilled in New Zealand, but the only finance-related positions on the Green List are external auditor and internal auditor, both requiring an hourly wage of at least NZD 45.50. So the path is: she finds a relevant finance role in New Zealand, hits the wage threshold, builds work experience on a work visa, then applies for skilled residence — feasible, but 2-3 years away, and dependent on her finding the right job. We didn't guarantee she'd get residence.
He'd spent over six months researching before coming to us. After our conversations, he reworked the entire plan himself, and quietly closed the door on several of the cheaper-looking options that turned out to have catches.
“I thought I'd researched it thoroughly. Edustar showed me the gaps in my own research — and that's worth a lot more than someone just processing my paperwork.”
This case has been anonymised. Outcomes depend on individual circumstances and policy changes.