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Apply early for your New Zealand visitor visa

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is expecting to receive over 260,000 visitor visa applications over the summer peak processing period. We encourage prospective travellers to submit their applications as soon as possible.

2 September 2024
3 minute read

The summer holiday months are an incredibly busy time for Immigration New Zealand. We experience a surge of visa applications from people who want to spend Christmas and New Year's with their loved ones in Aotearoa New Zealand, or who want to explore our beautiful country.

Anyone who is planning to travel to New Zealand for Christmas should submit their application no later than 15 October 2024. If you are travelling in the New Year, including Chinese Lunar New Year, you should submit your application no later than 15 November 2024.

If you submit your application after these dates, it may not be processed in time for your intended travel date.

In addition to submitting applications well in advance, we strongly encourages travellers to provide complete applications with all necessary documentation. This will help avoid delays with your visa application.

Applications that are missing supporting documents or English translations are more likely to be declined. Making a complete visitor visa application early means you will receive your visa decision sooner, enabling you to spend more time planning your trip to New Zealand.

Tips to help you avoid delays

Here are some tips that will help avoid delays with your visitor visa application.

Valid Passport

Make sure your passport is valid for at least 3 months after the date you plan to leave New Zealand. This also applies to the passports of anyone you are travelling with. You must also include a clear, scanned copy of the photo page in your passport in your visa application.

Providing your passport for online applications

Acceptable Photo

Provide a photo that meets our requirements.

Acceptable photos for a visa or NZeTA

Accurate Details

Double-check your personal information, such as name, passport number, and date of birth, to ensure it matches your passport.

Genuine Intentions

Submit documentation that demonstrates your intention to visit New Zealand temporarily and return home afterward.

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in New Zealand

English Documentation

Provide supporting documents in English or provide an English translation for non-English documents.

Providing English translations of supporting documents

Funds or sponsorship

Provide evidence that shows you have enough money to live on while you are in New Zealand, or that you have an acceptable sponsor

Visitor visa information pages

Check our visitor visa information pages for more information about criteria and requirements for a visitor visa.

Visas that allow you to visit New Zealand

Resources for the tourism and travel industry

If you work in the tourism or travel industry, you can use our resources to help spread the message.

Visitor Visas for summer vacations