PTE Requirement for a New Zealand Student Visa

New Zealand does not set a minimum PTE score for the student visa. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) treats English test results as optional evidence, and the real PTE score you need is the one your university sets for your course. For example, the University of Auckland asks for PTE Academic 50 overall for general undergraduate entry and 58 overall for postgraduate study. Checked 10 Oct 2026.

What INZ actually requires

On INZ's fee-paying student visa page, English test results are described as not mandatory but useful to show you genuinely intend to study. The page does not give a PTE figure. What it does ask for:

• An offer of place from an approved provider, with a signed provider declaration that you have the English ability and academic capability to pass the course. If you apply from outside New Zealand, a conditional offer can get you in-principle approval, but an unconditional offer is needed before the visa is approved.
• Proof of living-cost funds if you are paying for yourself. For tertiary or English language study of one year or more the page lists NZD 20,000 per year, or NZD 1,667 per month for shorter study (school-level study has lower figures). Checked 10 Oct 2026.
• Proof that tuition fees for one course or one year, whichever is shorter, are paid (or that fees are not required).

So the English gate is effectively the university's: your offer must carry the provider's declaration that you have the English ability to pass the course. Visa rules change, so read the page again before you apply.

PTE scores by level: two universities as a worked example

INZ gives no national table, so these are examples from two universities' own pages. Your course may differ.

Sources: Auckland undergraduate, Auckland postgraduate, Waikato. All figures checked 10 Oct 2026.

Some professional programmes ask for more than the general figure. Waikato, for example, lists 56 for its law degree, 65 for several midwifery, nursing and pharmacy practice programmes and 69 for initial teacher education, so open the page of your exact programme. Other New Zealand universities publish their own tables and we have not verified them here. For the full Waikato table and the work and residence visa scores, see PTE score for New Zealand.

After 12th, bachelor or masters: what to do

1. After Class 12: pick the route first. A bachelor's degree uses the undergraduate row. A foundation or diploma year may have a lower row, but confirm it with the university.
2. After a bachelor's: use the postgraduate row for your specific masters course, not the general one.
3. One weak skill is the usual trap: a high overall score does not help if one communicative skill is under the floor. Use the PTE score chart to see where your skills sit.

Checklist before you book the test

• Find your course's English page and write down the overall score and the skill floor.
• Ask whether the university accepts the test format you plan to take. Waikato excludes the online Pearson PTE test for some programmes (it names the BNurs degree and several midwifery, nursing and pharmacy practice programmes), and Auckland's pages do not say, so ask admissions before booking an online test.
• Check how old a result the university accepts (Auckland counts results as valid for two years from the certificate date to the start of your studies) and book early enough that it is still in date. See the PTE passing score guide for score basics.
• Authorise the university to view your score. Auckland says you must do this.
• Add a margin of a few points to your target, then practise your weakest section, for example speaking or writing, and track your practice estimates on the progress page. Compare the visa routes in PTE score for New Zealand and the work and residence visa guide.

About the PTE 36 you may see online

INZ's October 2025 paper application guide has a table that lists PTE Academic overall 36 (IELTS 5.0, TOEFL iBT 35). The guide's table is headed "Acceptable English language test results" and sits under tertiary students' work rights. It is the English test evidence required for part-time work rights (25 hours a week) when your programme's main purpose is to develop English language skills at a private training establishment or tertiary institution. It is not the entry score for a degree. (In that INZ guide, "PTE" in some places means private training establishment, not the Pearson test.) If you only have a rough IELTS target, the PTE to IELTS converter gives an estimate, but it is not an official equivalence.

Left out because we could not confirm it from an official page: any PTE figure for universities other than Auckland and Waikato, Auckland's foundation-level score, and any English waiver rule for Indian board students.