New Zealand Special Category Visa Holders

If you hold a New Zealand Special Category Visa, you may be eligible for a HELP loan, providing you meet the long term residency requirements.

If you hold a New Zealand Special Category Visa, you may be eligible for a HELP loan, providing you meet all of the following criteria:

  • you first entered Australia at least 10 years ago as a dependent child under 18 years of age; and
  • you have been in Australia for at least:
    • a total of 8 out of the past 10 years immediately before the test day*; and
    •  a total of 18 months out of the past two years immediately before the test day*

* 'Test day' means the first date you successfully applied for a HELP loan as an eligible New Zealand Special Category Visa holder for a unit that formed part of the same course of study. If you have not previously successfully applied for a HELP loan for a unit that forms part of your course of study then the 'test day' is the date you submit the Request for Commonwealth Support and HECS-HELP form.

You will need to email the following forms of evidence to ask.studentfinance@adelaide.edu.au at the time of application for HELP, to demonstrate that you meet the eligibility criteria:

  1. Current New Zealand passport
  2. International Movements Record (available to request from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA))
  3. Copy of your Special Category Visa entitlement, available from the DHA Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) website

For further information about each of the HELP loans, please read the relevant pages on this website. To check your current visa status, visit the Department of Home Affairs website