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Immigration New Zealand process for visitor visa applications from Israel

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has not enacted any new policies for processing visitor visa applications from Israeli or Palestinian nationals.

29 January 2025
3 minute read

There have been some incorrect media reports stating that INZ has recently declined a visitor visa for an Israeli national because of their military service. INZ has not enacted any new policies for processing visitor visa applications from Israeli or Palestinian nationals. To be clear, military service is not grounds alone to decline visa applications.

The declined visitor visa applications we have identified for Israeli nationals have been because the applicants did not demonstrate that they meet the standard requirements to show that they are genuine applicants, such as providing proof of ties to their home country, reasons for their stay, or evidence of their travel plans.

Genuine intentions to visit, study, or work in New Zealand

Additionally, we cannot confirm any information about individual applications if we are not provided a privacy waiver from the individual.

It should also be noted that, Israel is a visa waiver country, and travellers need to complete New Zealand electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) declarations to enter New Zealand. This has not changed. They can apply for visitor visas if they are visiting for longer than 3 months.

A visitor visa can be declined for several reasons, and it is difficult for us to comment on why a person’s application was declined without a privacy waiver from the individual. Immigration requirements do not prevent individuals who have served in this conflict from applying for or being granted a visitor visa.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas started, INZ has put in place processes to ensure consistency and priority allocation for any applications received for people living in these locations. Palestinian and Israeli nationals can apply for any visa category they meet the requirements for. We will continue to prioritise the processing of applications for people impacted by the conflict.

However, all applicants must meet the relevant immigration requirements to be granted a visa.

Immigration New Zealand assesses visa applications against a number of factors, including character, medical, financial and previous travel history.

There may be certain circumstances where we need more information from an applicant to determine they meet these requirements. Our existing form for additional information is the INZ 1200 form.

Additional Information Form (INZ 1200) PDF 697KB

As we continue moving our visas onto our enhanced immigration online platform, these questions and any others that may need to be asked are becoming built into our application system to make it more intuitive and remove the need for us to request this information manually. We may still use the INZ 1200 where more detailed information is required.

We understand that there will be curiosity in how this online process operates, but we cannot discuss any details of our risk settings that are designed to ensure we have all the information needed to make robust and fair decisions on visa applications.

You can read more about Immigration New Zealand's response to the conflict on our website. 

Immigration New Zealand’s response to the conflict between Hamas and Israel