Immigration New Zealand warns travellers of visa scam

Tuesday, 15 Oct, 2019 0

Immigration New Zealand has warned that several unauthorised websites are fleecing travellers over the cost of the mandatory eTA visa required to enter the country.

Many unofficial visa websites have sprouted, with misleading names such as official-newzealand-eta.org and newzealand-eta-gov.org.

They are charging travellers up to 10 times more, Immigration New Zealand says.

"We are seeing a growing number of third parties charging visitors for something they can very quickly and easily do themselves and that’s concerning," said INZ’s General Manager Stephen Dunstan.

Dunstan urged travellers to only use the official website www.immigration.govt.nz/nzeta or the NZeTA mobile app.

"An NZeTA costs just NZD$12 using the website or NZD$9 using the mobile apps and only takes a matter of minutes to complete. Travellers shouldn’t need to fork out more money than the official cost and should make sure that they aren’t being misled into paying more," he said.

According to INZ, some of these third parties claim to offer a fast track service which is clearly not true, as they only way to apply is through the official web form which individuals can submit to themselves with the same delivery timeline.

"We are working closely with airlines, travel agents and cruise operators to make sure they’re directing travellers to the official government website or mobile app."

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TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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