Entry requirements for New Zealand

Entry requirements at a glance

If you are not a British citizen travelling on a British citizen passport, do not read the second column as your answer. New Zealand’s visa-waiver list is long, and its conditions differ by country. Check the list on Immigration New Zealand’s site for the passport you will travel on. We will not infer an answer for a passport we have not checked.

Who qualifies, and when the answer changes

Every one of these must be true. Where one fails, the heading after it tells you what to do instead.

1. You travel on a British citizen passport. Immigration New Zealand’s waiver covers British citizens and other British passport holders with the right to live permanently in the UK. If not: Another passport.
2. You are visiting: a holiday, tourism, seeing family or friends, or study of up to 3 months. If not: Work or longer study.
3. You will stay 6 months or less, and not more than 6 months in any 12. If not: Staying longer.
4. You hold an approved NZeTA, linked to the passport you are travelling on. If not: If something goes wrong.
5. You meet the health and character requirements and are a genuine visitor. If you are unsure: Past refusals or convictions.
6. The officer at the border agrees. The visitor visa is granted on arrival, not before.

Another passport

Eligibility follows the passport you travel on, not where you live. If you also hold New Zealand or Australian citizenship, your position is different; check Immigration New Zealand’s pages before you apply. Australian citizens need neither an NZeTA nor the levy; Australian permanent residents need the NZeTA but not the levy. For any other passport, check Immigration New Zealand’s visa-waiver list. If yours is not on it, you need a visitor visa instead of an NZeTA.

Work or longer study

The waiver does not cover work of any kind, or study longer than 3 months. Each needs a visa, applied for before you travel, through Immigration New Zealand. A visit that needs a sponsor needs a visa, not an NZeTA.

Staying longer

For longer than 6 months, apply to Immigration New Zealand for a visa before your permitted stay runs out. It is a separate application, not an extension you can count on.

Passing through Auckland

Changing planes in Auckland for another country needs a transit NZeTA. It covers Auckland Airport only, up to 24 hours, in the transit area, without collecting your bags, and needs no Traveller Declaration. Tourism New Zealand says airside transit passengers are usually exempt from the NZ$100 levy; confirm when you apply. Leave the airport, or change planes anywhere else, and you need the visitor NZeTA.

Arriving by cruise ship

Cruise passengers need an NZeTA too, unless they hold a New Zealand visa, and are treated as holding a visitor visa when they arrive.

Past refusals or convictions

A previous refusal of entry, a deportation, a criminal record or a serious health condition can affect New Zealand’s character and health requirements, and the NZeTA asks about them. How your case will be decided is not something we can predict. Answer accurately, and if any of it applies, contact Immigration New Zealand before you book. Please do not share the details with us.

Children

Every child needs their own NZeTA, even a child included on a parent’s passport, and Tourism New Zealand says there is no age-based exemption from the levy. Everyone travelling must be covered by a Traveller Declaration; follow the official service’s instructions for children. The NZeTA app can make requests for up to 10 people at once; the website needs one request per person. We found no New Zealand border rule on consent letters for a child travelling with one parent, but a signed letter from the other parent is a sensible precaution. Airline rules for unaccompanied children are the airline’s, not New Zealand’s.

What to do before you travel

1. Fix the facts: which passport, why you are going, for how long, and every airport on the way.
2. Check them against the official sources: Immigration New Zealand’s visa-waiver page and NZeTA page, and GOV.UK as a second check.
3. Check the passport. In date for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave, undamaged, and in the name you booked under.
4. Request the NZeTA on the official NZeTA app or the official NZeTA website, with the passport you will travel on. It costs NZ$17 by the app or NZ$23 on the website, and the NZ$100 levy is paid at the same time: NZ$117 or NZ$123 all in. Allow 72 hours. Immigration New Zealand tells you to use only its official website or app; see its advice on scams.
5. Check the approval: that the passport number and name match your passport exactly, and that it is valid for your travel dates.
6. Book your way out, and keep the onward ticket and proof of funds, or of paid accommodation, where you can show them.
7. Complete the Traveller Declaration on the official service or its app, from 24 hours before your journey begins. It is free. Then recheck the official sources shortly before you fly.

On arrival

Expect several checkpoints, not one. When we arrived in March 2026 it was a process in stages: passport control, then collecting bags, then the biosecurity and customs checks on what we carried. Allow time, and keep your passport to hand. A faster lane was advertised for travellers who had completed their paperwork; in our experience it did not speed things up. At passport control you show the passport your NZeTA is linked to, and may be asked about your plans, ticket out and money. Your Traveller Declaration must be submitted by the time you get there; if you could not do it online, ask for the paper form.

Then comes biosecurity, and New Zealand means it. Its farming, and its native plants and birds, depend on keeping pests and diseases out. On our arrival a detector dog was working along the queue, checking people and hand luggage.

Declared items are inspected, and officers decide what happens to them: some are cleared, some treated, and some may be refused. To check an item before you pack, use the Ministry for Primary Industries’ item checker or its guide to declaring items on arrival. Clean boots and gear at home before you pack them.

Customs. Declare cash of NZ$10,000 or more, or its equivalent; goods worth more than NZ$700 in total; and medicine that is more than 3 months’ supply or not prescribed to you. It is sensible to carry prescribed medicines in their packaging with a copy of the prescription. Some medicines, and controlled drugs, are restricted; we could not confirm the rules for those, so check New Zealand Customs’ list before you pack them. Duty-free allowances are on Customs’ arrival page.

If something goes wrong

Your NZeTA has not come through. Do not travel without it: the airline can stop you at check-in. Check its status on the official service, and do not pay again through an unofficial site.

You made a mistake on the NZeTA. Use Immigration New Zealand’s NZeTA change request. Never change an answer to make an application succeed.

Your passport is lost, damaged or replaced. The NZeTA is tied to the old passport and does not move with it. Request a new one with the new passport before you travel.

Your route changes. A new stop is a new border: check the transit rules again.

The airline says your documents are not enough. Ask which rule it is applying, then check it against Immigration New Zealand’s pages. The airline decides whether it carries you; it does not decide New Zealand immigration law. A missing onward ticket is one reason airlines refuse boarding.

Your 6 months are running out. Leave on time, or apply for a visa before the last day. Do not overstay, and do not rely on an informal workaround.

Where the official sources do not answer your case, as with controlled medicines, ask Immigration New Zealand or Customs, not a forum or an agent.