Travel to New Zealand

The New Zealand border is currently closed to almost all travellers. If you are travelling to New Zealand, you are required to seek approval and book accommodation at a managed isolation facility before travel.

COVID-19 testing requirements

Effective 23:59 (NZT) 25 January 2021, all passengers, except those arriving from Australia, Antarctica, Albania, Belize, Dominica, Kenya, Laos, Montenegro, Myanmar, Slovenia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent, the Grenadines, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Pacific Islands listed here, must present a negative COVID-19 PCR certificate for a test taken no more than 72 hours prior to departure.

Accepted tests:

• RT - PCR
• LAMP/ Antigen

Test specifications:

Testing labs must be able to issue a passenger with a dated report that includes the following information.

• passenger’s name
• passenger’s date of birth
• date and time the test was conducted
• name of testing lab
• test type
• test result.

COVID-19 test exemptions:

• children less than two years of age;
• diplomatic and consular personnel, and New Zealand Defence Force personnel, who are currently exempt from the Air Border Order and/or managed COVID-19 Public Health Response (Isolation and Quarantine) Order 2020;
• individuals granted permission to enter New Zealand for humanitarian reasons, including medical evacuations from the Pacific;
• individuals arriving in New Zealand by air from Antarctica.

Quarantine

All passengers arriving into New Zealand on or after the 3 November 2020 must book accommodation at a managed isolation and quarantine facility before travel and must hold the "MIQ" voucher upon arrival in New Zealand. Passengers can get a voucher for their stay from the Managed Isolation Allocation System website. A printed or digital copy of the voucher must be presented at check-in. By 3 November, passengers arriving into New Zealand will not be accepted if they do not have this voucher. For more details, please visit the Managed Isolation and Quarantine website.

Exemptions

The following categories of passengers may travel to and enter New Zealand without first seeking approval:

• New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and residents with valid travel conditions (excluding people granted a resident visa outside New Zealand and who are travelling to New Zealand on that resident visa for the first time).
• Partners, dependent children (aged 19 years or under if they hold a temporary visa or 24 and under if they hold a resident visa) of New Zealand citizens or residents who hold a visa based on their relationship with a New Zealand citizen or resident partner or parent.
• Diplomats who hold a post in New Zealand.

Passengers may be allowed to travel to and enter New Zealand while the border is closed in the following instances:

• You qualify as someone to whom the border closure does not apply, or
• If NZ immigration considers that the passenger has a critical purpose for travel while the border is closed and thereby grants a visa which recognises this.

Transit arrangements that detail who may transit New Zealand are published by Immigration NZ and available on their website.

Required forms

To gain approval to travel under one of these reasons, passengers must:

• Submit a request to INZ 
• Be invited to apply for a visa or variation of conditions, which if approved will allow them entry. 

Other information

For further details please refer to the Ministry of Health website.

Travelling to, from and through Dubai

If you're travelling to, from or transiting through Dubai, please check our Travel requirements for Dubai.