visiting new zealand
New Zealand is one of the most beautiful countries to visit and should be on everyone’s bucket list. We stayed and traveled cross country for over 5 weeks and loved every second of it. What was great about our travels here too is that New Zealand was on a lot of our friend’s bucket lists too so we were so blessed to have some friends join along the way. New Zealand is divided into two main islands the North and the South. If you are on limited time you may only visit one or the other or to capitalize on time you may do small domestic flights between.
getting to new zealand
Auckland, which is the capital, is also the largest international airport in the country so many people’s journey starts here. There are four other main international airports: Christchurch, Wellington, Queenstown, and Dunedin. These other international airports mostly connect with Australia but have been expanding and some connect as well to Fiji. Auckland receives most European, African, and American travels.
visa
For US citizens, a visa for tourism is not needed for New Zealand however you need to get NZeTA which started in 2019. This allows people who are visiting for purposes of tourism, visiting friends or family, business, transit or if traveling as airline or cruise ship crew to visit without requiring a visa. It is much faster and required for entry. The NZeTA is valid for 2 years and US citizens can stay for up to 3 months at a time and is valid for multiple entries. The eTA will expire after 2 years or when passport expires.
You must have a US passport, valid credit or debit card to pay the fees, current email address where approval eTA will be sent, passport style photo, proof of sufficient funds and onward travel documents.
It is advisable to complete this at least one week prior but the process can take as little as 10 minutes.
It is advisable to print a copy of the authorization in case needed by immigration officer on arrival.
The cost of the NZeTA is $9 if completed on the free app or $12 if completed online. There is also a $35 NZD Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy that is required at time of application.
the story
We visited New Zealand in 2017. At that time a visa or NZeTA was not required. Before needing the NZeTA, you could stay for 90 days and no visa was required. One policy they did have; however, was documentation of flight in and departure flight. We did not realize this when we went to the airport to check in and they were asking for proof of our flight home. We had not booked flights home because we were not sure what exactly our plan was or where we were heading next.
So, there in line, we were scrambling online just looking for any flight that brought us back to the United States. I was in full panic, as we were already running late the check in said they were closing in 5 minutes. The wifi in the airport was horrible the internet couldn’t have been slower when were in a complete time crunch. We quickly searched and bought literally the worst ticket on the planet that had 3 layovers and was over 1,500 USD a piece, but triple verified that you could cancel your flight in 24 hours. We booked it right there on the side of the line and just in time for the airline attendant to approve us to travel to New Zealand. We laughed at how we had to book this incredible ticket and basically booked a flight through Bogota to get to New Zealand, but that flight home saved us!
Upon checking into our hotel in New Zealand, the first thing we did was cancel that ungodly flight. I learned that day not only to check if you need a visa but also to make sure you don’t need any other documentation about when leaving/departing flight. I guess the good news is that with their new system this error will be less likely to happen to travelers. Maybe we weren’t the only ones with this issue in the past.
the lesson
Check to see if you need a visa and make sure to have appropriate documents. Some countries need proof of where you will be staying while visiting. Some countries require a departure flight. Know these facts before you are at the airport checking into your flight. You will be happy you did!
