New Zealand is moving away from paper arrival cards – travellers to New Zealand will soon complete an online declaration before arrival, speeding up the arrival process.
- Travellers arriving into Christchurch airport or Wellington airport will be able to complete an online declaration from the week starting 10 July 2023.
- Travellers arriving into Queenstown airport will be able to complete an online declaration from mid to late July.
- Travellers arriving into Auckland airport will be able to complete an online declaration later in August 2023.
Once operational, travellers will not be permitted to check in for their flight to New Zealand until they have completed the NZTD process, which will also conduct eligibility checks to determine whether the traveller has the right to enter the country.
The online system is the New Zealand Traveller Declaration.
In the first phase of the roll-out, travellers completing the NZTD will be issued with a Traveller Pass which must be presented to airline check-in staff and border officials for manual checking. Future phases of the rollout will see a mobile app introduced, providing travellers with a QR code to present to border officials which will also be valid for multiple entries over a predetermined length of time.