Holiday / Transit Visas

If you are thinking of visiting New Zealand, you may need to apply for a holiday visa. In some cases, you may be allowed to visit New Zealand without a visa. This happens if you live in one of the 'visa free' countries listed here:

Andorra, Ireland, Portugal*, Argentina, Israel, Qatar, Austria, Italy, San Marino, Bahrain, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Korea (South), Singapore, Brazil, Slovenia, Brunei, Kuwait, South Africa, Canada, Liechtenstein, Spain, Chile, Luxembourg, Sweden, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Switzerland, Denmark, Malta, Finland, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, France, Monaco, United States of America**, Germany, Uruguay, Greece, Netherlands, Vatican City, Hong Kong ***, Norway, Hungary, Oman and Iceland

* Portuguese passport holders must also have the right to live permanently in Portugal.
** Including nationals of the USA.
*** Residents of Hong Kong travelling on Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or British National (Overseas) passports.

If you are in one of these visa free countries, you are entitled to visit New Zealand for up to 3 months. If you are a UK citizen, you are entitled to visit New Zealand for up to 6 months without a visa. Australian citizens do not need a visa at all.

If you do not fall in to these categories, or you have special circumstances, please read the following link:

NZ Operations Manual Special Circumstances

If you enter NZ without a visa and wish to stay longer, you may apply for visitors visa to allow you to stay longer. If you wish to be able to visit other places, such as Australia, and then return to NZ to continue your holiday, you must apply for a multiple entry visa, allowing you re-entry in to New Zealand.

TRANSIT VISA
You may need to apply for a Transit Visa if you need to stop in New Zealand either on the way to, or coming from, any Pacific Island destination listed here:

Cook Islands, Niue Tokelau, Fiji Samoa Tonga, Kiribati Nauru Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia or Tahiti

But you won’t need a Transit Visa if you hold a current New Zealand visa that allows you to travel to New Zealand or Australia is your next or final destination and you hold a current visa allowing you to travel to Australia.

If you wish to stay longer than 24 hours you may instead have to apply for a Visitor's Visa.