How do I transfer my New Zealand visa to a new passport?

Whenever the passport your visa is linked to is replaced: it expired, it was lost, stolen or damaged, or you have changed your name. INZ's instruction is that you need to transfer your visa into your new passport before you use it to travel, and that applies whether the visa was an eVisa or a label.

Your visa is tied to the passport it was granted on. Airlines check the passport you travel on against your visa, so a valid visa linked to an old passport can still leave you stuck at check-in.

INZ recommends the eVisa as the quickest way to transfer. There is no application fee for an eVisa, it is done online, and you keep your passport. A visa label is the physical sticker in the passport; there is a fee for it, and you have to send the passport itself to INZ.

• eVisa: no application fee, online, keep your passport.
• Visa label: fee payable, you post your new passport plus a copy of your application confirmation email.

INZ lists the current label fee and decision times on its "Fees, decision times and where to apply" page. We have not repeated a figure here; our visa fees lookup covers the main visa fees.

The application is the same whichever visa you hold, with one exception: Skilled Migrant Category interim visa holders use a separate form.

1. Get your new passport first. You need its details and a copy of the photo page.
2. Complete the Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa. For an eVisa this can be done online. A paper option exists too.
3. Upload the documents: a copy of your new passport and, if available, a copy of your old one. If your name has changed, include evidence such as a marriage certificate.
4. For a label only: pay the fee, then send your new passport with a copy of your application confirmation email to INZ.
5. Wait for confirmation that the visa is linked to the new passport before you travel.

A name change, for example on marriage, is one of the reasons to transfer, because your new passport will not match the name on your visa. Include evidence of the change, such as a marriage certificate, with the application.

INZ's page says the visa needs to be transferred before you use the new passport to travel, and it does not say a pending application is enough. If travel is close, apply for the eVisa transfer as soon as the new passport arrives, and do not book on the assumption that it will be done by a particular date. Published decision times are on INZ's fees and decision times page and in our processing-time lookup.