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NZ Citizen travelling on a foreign passport

As a NZ Citizen, you may have dual (or more) citizenships and hold valid passports for more than one country.

You can travel on any valid passport, however to re-enter NZ as a citizen of NZ, you must either

  • show a valid NZ passport at the border, or
  • have a valid Returning Residents Visa in your other passport (issued prior to 29 November 2010); or
  • have an Endorsement indicating NZ Citizenship in your foreign passport (for information on how to apply for this, please click on the Endorsement link above)

If you do not have any of these documents at the border, you will be assessed as a citizen of the country of your other passport, not as a NZ citizen, and you will be required to meet the visitor entry requirements (these may include having a return ticket, and/or having a temporary entry visa in your passport) of that country.

If visitor entry requirements are not met, it may result in you being refused entry to NZ. To prevent this, make sure you have organised your entry documentation prior to your travel, as per the first paragraph.

This answer was last updated on 24 May, 2013.

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