Our commercial aviation sector says it's losing international students due to delays in visa processing.

In New Zealand it takes up to 30 working days to action visas. 

Aviation New Zealand claims we're missing out to Australia and other countries with shorter processing times.  

Chief Executive Simon Wallace says it's making us less competitive. 

He says we had fewer than a hundred students come here last year, compared with more than 600 pre-Covid in 2020. 

Immigration NZ says they processed 79% of the 81 student visa applications received last year within 30 working days. 

It says applications missing key information take longer to process. 

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