New Passport System
NZ is rolling out a new passport system called "e-passport". The e-passport contains a silicon microchip which links passport holders to a digitised version of their photograph and other biodata already held on the passport. The new passport holds no extra or new personal data about the holder. The e-passport is being introduced to further increase the security of the NZ passport and ensure NZ meets the requirements for US "visa waiver" border entry from 26 October 2006.
All existing passports remain valid until their expiry date and applicants will automatically receive a new e-passport when they reapply.
For people who don't have an e-passport and enter the US after 26 October 2006, assuming the existing passport is still valid, there should be no problems. Those people will continue to maintain existing visa waiver border entry rights to the US for the lifetime of their current passport (after that, as mentioned before, they will then be issued with an e-passport).
The other main reason for introducing the new passport is to help ensure NZ keep ahead of the increasingly sophisticated international trade in illegal passports. One of the most common acts of fraud involving passports is the replacement of photos or the passport being used by someone who looks similar to but is not the holder. Over time the e-passport will make it very difficult for someone else to use your passport. Another common form of fraud is the manufacture of counterfeit passports. The e-passport is significantly more sophisticated and therefore substantially harder to reproduce.
New Passport Fees
From 4 November 2005 new fees for passports came into force:
NZ$
Adult's passport 150
Child's passport 80*
Emergency Travel Document (ETD) 80
Certificate of Identity (COI) 80
Urgent fee 150**
Call out fee 500**
*A child is defined for fee purposes as a person under the age of 16 years.
**These fees are additional to the fee for the passport itself.
More information about passports and how you apply for one can be found at: http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Passports-Index?OpenDocument |
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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