Renewed your passport? You need to move your New Zealand visa across before you travel on it. The eVisa route is free and done online; a physical label costs a fee and means posting your passport to INZ.
Written by the ProVisas Editorial Team. ProVisas is a licensed New Zealand immigration advisory firm (IAA Licence 201301110).
If you have renewed your passport, you need to transfer your New Zealand visa into the new one before you use it to travel (immigration.govt.nz). This applies whether your visa is an eVisa or a physical label in the old passport. You do it through the Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa, which is an online form, and requesting an eVisa carries no application fee.
The part people miss: your visa is not cancelled by a new passport, and you do not reapply for it. What changes is the passport number your visa is linked to, and INZ needs that on record.
Yes, if you intend to travel on the new passport. INZ puts it directly: you must tell them when you get a new passport so your records can be updated and you can travel to and from New Zealand.
This holds for resident visas as much as temporary ones. A resident or permanent resident visa granted years ago is still linked to the passport it was issued against, so renewing that passport without telling INZ leaves your travel conditions attached to a document you no longer hold. Airlines check visa status against the passport you present at check-in, which is where the problem usually surfaces.
If you are travelling soon, start this before you book, not after.
The form offers both. They are not equivalent in cost or speed.
| eVisa | Physical visa label | |
|---|---|---|
| Application fee | None | There is a fee, listed on INZ’s fees page |
| How it is issued | Electronically, linked to your new passport | Printed into your passport by INZ |
| Do you post your passport? | No | Yes, your actual passport goes to INZ |
| Speed | INZ describes it as the quickest way | Slower, since it includes postage both ways |
INZ recommends the eVisa, and for most people it is the sensible choice: it is free, nothing leaves your hands, and there is no window where you are without your passport. A label is worth requesting only if you have a specific reason to hold a printed visa, and you should factor in being without your passport while INZ has it.
One exclusion to know about: if you hold a Skilled Migrant Category Interim Visa you cannot get a visa label, and there is a separate transfer form for that visa.
The form asks for:
Anything not in English needs a translation.
If the new passport shows a different name, you must upload evidence of the change. INZ names marriage certificates, a new birth certificate, or another formal name change document as examples.
This is the case that most often goes wrong, because a name change and a passport renewal usually happen together after a marriage, and people transfer the visa without mentioning the name at all. A visa recorded against one name and a passport showing another is a mismatch the airline or the border system will pick up. Deal with both in the same application.
The Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa is not only for passport renewals. The same form is used to confirm your New Zealand immigration status, which matters for Australian citizens and permanent residents, and for people evidencing continuous residence in New Zealand since 2 April 1974. A confirmation letter, like the eVisa, has no fee.
If you travel to New Zealand visa free and hold an NZeTA rather than a visa, a new passport is a different process again: the NZeTA is tied to the passport it was requested against, and INZ has a separate change request for updating passport details on one.
Yes, if you plan to travel on the new passport. INZ requires you to tell them when you get a new passport so your records are updated and you can travel to and from New Zealand. Your visa is not cancelled by the renewal and you do not reapply for it; you are updating the passport your visa is linked to.
Nothing, if you request an eVisa. INZ states there is no fee for an eVisa or a confirmation letter. A physical visa label does carry a fee, published on INZ’s fees and decision times page. Because fees change without notice, confirm the current amount on immigration.govt.nz before you apply.
Yes. The Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa is completed online. If you request an eVisa the whole process stays online and you keep your passport. If you request a physical label, you complete the form and pay online, then post your passport to INZ with a copy of your confirmation email.
Yes, and the same form and eVisa option apply. This is worth doing promptly rather than at the airport: a resident visa stays linked to the passport it was issued against, so airlines checking your status at check-in are checking a document you no longer carry.
You must upload evidence of the name change with the transfer application. INZ gives a marriage certificate, a new birth certificate, or another formal name change document as examples. Do not transfer the visa and leave the name unaddressed; a visa recorded in one name against a passport in another will be queried at the border.
INZ does not publish a single timeframe for this, and it depends on which option you choose. The eVisa is described by INZ as the quickest route because nothing is posted. A label takes longer, since it includes postage in both directions and time for INZ to print it. Start well before you travel rather than close to a departure date.
Current as at 28 August 2026, based on Immigration New Zealand policy. For advice on your own situation, talk to a ProVisas Licensed Immigration Adviser (IAA Licence 201301110).
Last reviewed . Information may have changed since this article was reviewed. For your specific case, talk to a licensed immigration adviser.
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