Migrants who have paid Immigration New Zealand for English language tuition before arriving in New Zealand are eligible for Pre-purchased English Language Tuition (PELT) courses.

What you need to know

MIT offers PELT tuition in three categories:

  1. One on One in home tuition or online
  2. Small group in home tuition or online (often husband and wife where they can share the hours)
  3. Enrolment into the English programmes

Students in the first two categories listed above are often in the Parent/partner category and have the $1531.82 available. Once you have completed your study hours, you receive a completion letter.

Students in the third category listed above often have the $6131.82 balance and are encouraged to enrol in the Level 2-4 English programmes. As level 2 is free for domestic students, the PELT balance doesn’t kick in until Level 3 and if you continue onto Level 4 you will need to make up the fee balance.

All students enrolling on our English programmes are asked to come in for an assessment prior to commencing studies, to gauge your English level.

Balance of entitlement

The amount of funding you can receive to pay for courses is called your “balance of entitlement”.

Your balance of entitlement depends on:

  • your level of English when you applied for your visa, and
  • how much money you paid to Immigration New Zealand.

It will be between NZ$1,531.82 and NZ$6,131.82. If you gained residency under the Parent Category, your balance of entitlement will be NZ$1,531.82.

You, or someone on your behalf, can find out your balance of entitlement by contacting the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) Customer Contact Group by email at customerservice@tec.govt.nz, or by phone on 0800 601 301. Please provide your name, date of birth and passport number.

Visit the TEC website for more general information on PELT funding.

Eligible programmes (2025)