Early 20th century: Passports introduced Few countries required passports before the First World War, and they were not then usually required for overseas travel. By 1900 there were occasional requests for New Zealand passports, which were personally signed by the Governor. In 1905 MP
George Fowlds decided to return to Scotland for his father's 100th birthday. He decided he needed a passport when his ship was about to leave; an inconvenience both for the department and the Governor who had to sign it. A single passport covered a man and his wife and children, but did not include a photo or any personal details like age, height, or eye colour. In 1909 a passport was issued to Victor Reeves Packham, agricultural chemist; see file online. In the First World War the British Government required passports in 1915, and New Zealand followed from November 1915, with an increased workload for the department and for police. 1,108 passports had been issued in 1909, but 6,000 were issued in the nine months from 15 November 1915 to 21 August 1916. The number was kept high by civilian travel after the war, over 4,300 in 1921, and the number hovered at that level until the Depression. The number then fell from 4,722 in 1930 to 2,455 for the year ended 31 March 1934.
1950s: New Zealand citizenship introduced After the creation of modern
New Zealand citizenship with the passing of the
British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 (which came into force on 1 January 1949), residence in New Zealand no longer qualified British or Commonwealth citizens for a New Zealand passport, and they had to apply for New Zealand citizenship then for a passport, with increased work for the
Department of Internal Affairs. In 1950 the number of passports issued topped ten thousand, twice as many as were issued in 1939. Between 1948 and 1977, New Zealand passports bore the words 'New Zealand citizen and British subject'. Starting on 1 July 1981, the
Fraser government announced that New Zealand citizens could no longer travel to Australia without passports, and non-citizen New Zealand residents were required to apply for a visa. This was because it was felt that too many people who were not entitled to travel without passports to Australia were passing themselves off as New Zealanders.
1990s: Machine-readable passports In 1992, the Department of Internal Affairs started issuing
machine-readable passports in New Zealand, whilst New Zealand overseas posts continued to issue manual passports. Since 24 February 1992, children's names have no longer been endorsed in the passports of their parents. In February 1997, the
New Zealand High Commission in
London began issuing machine readable passports. In December 2000,
French was removed from the biodata page of the New Zealand passport and replaced with
Māori – this change was brought about by the Department of Internal Affairs, which "signals the status of Te Reo Māori as an official language of New Zealand and to give New Zealanders travelling abroad a passport that more accurately reflects their national identity". In 2001, the Department of Internal Affairs took over responsibility for the London Passport Office from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
2000s: Phasing out non-machine-readable passports By 2003, only around 4% of all New Zealand passport holders still held a non-machine readable version. On 26 October 2004, New Zealand diplomatic posts stopped issuing manual passports and, on the same day, began issuing short-term machine-readable emergency travel documents for New Zealand citizens who need to travel urgently. One of the reasons for reducing the number of non-machine readable passports in circulation was to increase the security of New Zealand passports; another was that, starting on this day, New Zealanders travelling to the United States under the
Visa Waiver Program were required to enter on a machine readable passport. From this date onwards, all New Zealand citizens applying for a passport overseas have had to send their application to the Passport Office in New Zealand,
Sydney or London. It also meant that all New Zealand passports issued on or after 26 October 2004 were machine-readable. Remaining non-machine readable New Zealand passports (M series) were still valid and expired by 25 October 2014 at the latest (only around 2% of New Zealand passport holders still had a non-machine readable version as of that date).
2005: Biometric passports On 4 November 2005, the Department of Internal Affairs began issuing New Zealand
biometric passports (EA series). In order to cover the higher costs associated with the production of biometric passports (compared with the previous machine readable passports), the application cost increased from NZ$71 to NZ$150 for adults and from NZ$36 to NZ$80 for children. All passports issued from 24 April 2005 to 29 November 2015—both adult and child—have a maximum
passport validity of five years as a result of the Passports Amendment Act (2005). Passports that were issued prior to 24 April 2005 remained valid until the date of expiry as stated on the biodata page. From 24 April 2005, New Zealand passports were no longer endorsed with name changes, which meant that, for example, changing to a married name required applying for a new passport.
2009: New passport design On 23 November 2009, the Department of Internal Affairs launched a new version of the biometric passport (LA series), supplied under a contract with the
Canadian Bank Note Company at a cost of just under $100 million over five years. One of the motivations for a new passport design was to ensure that it would remain difficult to produce counterfeit New Zealand passports. Unlike the previous biometric passport, photographs on the biodata page are now laser engraved in black and white for extra security.
2014: Validity restored to 10 years On 29 May 2014, after considering the Petition of
Kyle Lockwood, the Government Administration Committee recommended to the New Zealand government that ten-year passports for adults be reinstated. The committee concluded "On the evidence received, we are not convinced that the reduction in detected fraudulent passports is a result of the shorter validity period. It seems more likely to us that the introduction of biometric passports has lessened fraud and counterfeiting. The international standard among countries such as Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, who use similar biometric passports, is ten years. The biometric security features have led countries such as China, Canada and the Netherlands to reintroduce ten-year passports. We support the intent of the petition." Law changes were passed in 2015 and since 30 November 2015, 10-year passports are available again for New Zealanders aged 16 and over; passports for children under 16 are still only valid for 5 years.
2021: Passport design updated On 3 May 2021, the Department of Internal Affairs launched an updated version of the biometric passport (RA series). The RA series passports contain new and improved security features; also,
te reo Māori appears first on the cover and throughout the passport book. Owing largely to the
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel, existing stock of the previous series continued to be issued until depletion.
2025: English-first policy On 25 July 2025, the Internal Affairs Minister
Brooke van Velden confirmed that the English language would take precedence over the Māori language on the front cover of the New Zealand passport. In 2021, the passport cover design had been updated to have the Māori words "
Uruwhenua Aotearoa" printed above the words "New Zealand passport". Van Velden said that this change reflected the New Zealand Government's commitment to prioritising English. The
New Zealand First party's leader
Winston Peters had previously lobbied for the Government's English-first policy. In response,
Te Pāti Māori co-leader
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said that the policy change undermined New Zealand's commitment to recognising indigenous rights while
Green Party MP
Benjamin Doyle accused the Government of stripping minority rights away. == Passports issue statistics ==