Eligibility for Publicly Funded Health and Disability Services

Students

Student permit holders
Student permit holders are not eligible for publicly funded health and disability services.

It is compulsory for all international students to have medical and travel insurance under the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students.

Students being funded by the NZAID Official Development Assistance Programme
Students who receive funding from the Official Development Assistance Programme (run by the New Zealand Agency for International Development) are eligible regardless of their length of stay in New Zealand. Accompanying partners and children under the age of 18 years are also eligible.

You'll need to show some evidence that you are a participant in this programme, for example, ask the international student officer at your university to provide you with a letter of confirmation.

Students funded by New Zealand universities or NZAID as a postgraduate Commonwealth Scholarship holder
Students who receive funding from a New Zealand university or NZAID as a Commonwealth Scholarship holder are eligible regardless of their length of stay in New Zealand.

You'll need to show some evidence that you are a participant in this programme, for example, ask the international student officer at your university to provide you with a letter of confirmation.

Eligibility of student permit holders pre-2003
The changes to the Eligibility Direction in 2003 were not retrospective which means if you were eligible for publicly-funded health services before October 30 2003 you are still eligible as long as you met the following criteria:

At 30 October 2003 you either:

hold a current student permit that allows you to remain in New Zealand for two years or more, or
hold a current student permit that allows you to remain in New Zealand for at least 12 months, and can show that it is likely that you will get another student permit that, when added together with the first permit, amounts to two years or more (this generally relates to students in their first year of study), or
hold a current student permit that allows you to remain in New Zealand for a period of time that, when added together with the time you've already been studying in New Zealand, amounts to two consecutive years or more (this generally relates to students in their second or third year of study).

AND you subsequently undertake consecutive courses of study in New Zealand and are issued visas and permits on the basis of those courses, even where you leave the country for short periods (of up to four months) for holidays and where the next visa is granted offshore.

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Page last updated: July 2007