Practical
The New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD): how to fill it in and what to declare
Everyone arriving in New Zealand has to complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD): visitors, New Zealanders, Australians, children and babies. It is free, it takes about ten minutes on the official website or the NZTD app, and the earliest you can submit it is 24 hours before your trip to New Zealand starts. It replaced the paper arrival card in 2023, and it is checked automatically when you scan your passport at the eGate.
It is not a visa. If your passport needs an NZeTA, you still need that, applied for days ahead; the declaration is the arrival form that comes on top. Below is who needs one and when, every section of the form, what to declare at the border, and the changes coming for visitors in the next year or two.
Who needs a declaration, and when to do it
One declaration per person, every time you arrive. Caregivers can complete them for the children and babies they travel with, and the app can copy the travel details from one declaration to the next for the same trip, so a family of four is quicker than it sounds. Anyone can ask someone they trust to fill it in on their behalf.
The window is the part people get wrong. The Customs rules say the earliest you can submit is 24 hours before you start your trip to New Zealand, and the latest is when you reach passport control. On a long-haul journey with no stopover, the 24 hours count from the first flight on your ticket. If you stop over, leaving the airport with your bags, they count from the flight out of the stopover city.
| Your journey | Earliest you can submit |
|---|---|
| Sydney to Queenstown, nonstop | 24 hours before the Sydney departure |
| Los Angeles to Auckland, nonstop | 24 hours before the Los Angeles departure |
| London to Auckland via Singapore, connecting at the airport | 24 hours before the London departure |
| London to Singapore, three nights there, then Auckland | 24 hours before the Singapore departure |
| A cruise into New Zealand | 24 hours before the ship leaves its last foreign port |
Passengers who stay in the transit area at Auckland Airport do not need one. Leave the airport, or end your journey in New Zealand, and you do. Cruise passengers and crew always need one.
Filling it in, section by section
Have your passport, your flight details and your first address in New Zealand to hand. The questions can be read in 15 languages besides English, but the answers must be in English.
| Section | What it asks | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | The passport you will enter on | Dual nationals enter the one they will show at the border |
| Contact in New Zealand | Where you are staying | Moving around? Give your first address |
| Travel history | Countries visited in the last 30 days | Include stopovers where you left the airport |
| Flight or voyage | Your flight into New Zealand | Change flights? Edit and resubmit |
| What you are bringing | Food, plants, animal products, outdoor gear, medicines, cash, duty-free goods | Covers checked and carry-on bags. Declare if in doubt |
| Immigration | Your visa or NZeTA, if your passport needs one | Australian citizens need neither |
Starting a declaration emails you a reference number, and you can change your answers until you reach passport control. After a change, submit again. If the airline moves your flight on the same day you do nothing; if you will now arrive on a different day, edit it. Started on the website, it stays on the website; started in the app, you can finish it in either.
What to declare at the border
New Zealand’s farming and native species have no defence against many pests, so the biosecurity questions are strict and so is the enforcement. If you are not sure, declare it: declaring an item never earns a fine, not declaring one does. The instant fine is NZ$400, and false declarations can lead to prosecution.
| Declare it if you have | The rule |
|---|---|
| Any food, fresh, dried or packaged | Declare it; officers may let it through, treat it at your cost, or bin it |
| Plants, seeds, wooden items | Declare |
| Animals or animal products | Declare |
| Traditional or herbal medicines | Declare |
| Shoes, sports or outdoor gear you have used | Declare; hiking boots with soil on them are the classic catch |
| Prescription medicines over 3 months’ supply, or not prescribed to you | Declare; carry the prescription or a doctor’s letter |
| More than 4.5 litres of wine or beer, or more than 3 bottles of spirits | Declare; duty applies over the allowance (17 and over only) |
| More than 50 cigarettes or 50 g of tobacco | Declare |
| Goods bought overseas worth more than NZ$700 in total | Declare; gifts count |
| NZ$10,000 or more in cash, or the foreign equivalent | Declare, and file a Border Cash Report |
There are amnesty bins before the inspection point: drop an apple or a sandwich from the flight in there and there is nothing to declare. The full lists are on the Customs pages for arriving by air and medicines.
Your arrival checklist, by passport
The declaration is the same for everyone. What comes before it depends on your passport. Fees are in New Zealand dollars, with this week’s conversion.
| Passport | Before you fly | Fees | Arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian citizen | Valid passport only | None | NZTD, eGate from age 10 |
| Australian permanent resident | NZeTA | NZeTA only, NZ$17 by app (no levy) | NZTD |
| United States | NZeTA plus visitor levy | NZ$117 by app, about US$71 | NZTD, eGate from age 10 |
| United Kingdom | NZeTA plus visitor levy | NZ$117 by app, about £53 | NZTD, eGate from age 10 |
| Singapore | NZeTA plus visitor levy | NZ$117 by app, about S$90 | NZTD, eGate from age 10 |
Applying on the website instead of the app costs NZ$23 rather than NZ$17 for the NZeTA. Allow 72 hours for it to come through. Our NZeTA guide covers the rules for every passport, and there are pages written for Americans and Australians.
What is changing for visitors
One change that applies now: visitors arriving from 1 November 2026 can drive on their overseas licence for 12 months from arrival, down from the 18 months allowed for arrivals in the previous two years. An English-language licence needs nothing else; any other needs a translation or an international driving permit.
Scam sites, the paper form and getting help
Search for the declaration and you will find websites that look official and charge a fee to submit it for you. They are not the government. Customs says plainly that third-party sites charging for a declaration are not affiliated with New Zealand, and that if you are asked for payment you should stop. The real form is free and lives at travellerdeclaration.govt.nz and in the official app.
If you cannot do it online, a paper declaration is available on arrival. The contact centre runs around the clock on +64 4 931 5799, or 1800 359 269 from Australia; it can answer questions but cannot fill the form in for you.
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