New Zealand stops taking paper visitor-visa applications on 1 October

What changes

Immigration New Zealand announced on 4 September that from 1 October 2026, applications for selected visitor and transit visas must be submitted through its enhanced Immigration Online system. The change covers 23 visitor visa categories plus the transit visa — 24 in total.

Two points soften it. Paper applications submitted before 1 October 2026 will continue to be processed as normal, so nothing already in the post needs resubmitting. And paper forms for these visas will still be accepted where exceptional circumstances apply.

Eleven categories are explicitly excluded and are unaffected, among them the partner and child visitor visas linked to military personnel, students, workers and New Zealanders, the temporary retirement visitor visa, the trafficking child victim visitor visa and the refugee claimant visitor visa.

What it means for Indian travellers

India is not on New Zealand’s NZeTA visa-waiver list, so Indian leisure visitors apply for exactly the visitor visa categories this change affects. If you are planning New Zealand for the southern summer, the practical choice is simple: lodge a paper application before 30 September if that is how you were going to apply, or be ready to file online from 1 October.

For most applicants the online route is faster anyway. The change is procedural — it does not alter eligibility, fees or the documents you must supply, and Immigration New Zealand has not announced any change to processing times alongside it.

Sources

This report is based on the following published sources. Rules and schedules change — confirm with the issuing authority before you travel.

• Changes to use of paper applications for some visitor and transit visas — Immigration New Zealand, 04 September 2026