Travel Restrictions and Document Legalisation

Travel to New Zealand is currently heavily restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even those entering the country for critical reasons, as defined by the New Zealand government [1] must request entry and quarantine. You may be wondering what this means in terms of paperwork – what additional requirements should you be aware of? Read on for our document legalisation guide.

Under normal circumstances, U.K. citizens would be permitted to visit New Zealand as tourists visa-free and without any need for supporting documentation for a period of six months, but due to the pandemic there are restrictions in place until spring. In order to gain entry approval, you may have to provide evidence of a critical reason for your visit. Depending on your circumstances, this could take the form of a number of different documents. For instance, if you are visiting New Zealand to live with a partner who is residing there, you would have to provide a certificate of marriage or civil partnership, or other proof of a stable relationship such as a joint bank account. You would also be required to apply for a Critical Purpose Visitor Visa, as the usual visa-free entry has been suspended. This means you may have to satisfy more general requirements, such as proof of a standard of good health and a criminal records check.

It may be the case that some of your supporting documents, including marriage or civil partnership certificates, birth certificates, or bank documents, are from the U.K. If you have been living in the U.K. for an extended period of time, your criminal records check should also be carried out in the U.K. – generally this takes the form of an ACRO police certificate or a DBS check. Normally, U.K. documents must be apostilled in order for them to be recognised as legally valid in New Zealand.

Most public documents can be submitted to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for apostilles straight away. This should be the case if the document is an original or official duplicate, signed with a wet ink signature by a public official. On rare occasions, an original public document may be rejected or have its legalisation delayed if the signature of the official cannot be verified, but this is not typically an issue.

Other documents, such as degrees and DBS checks, must be notarised before they can be submitted for an apostille.

The present restrictions make the process of preparing to travel to New Zealand more complicated, and even correctly prepared applications can be rejected or can end up requiring further evidence. At Pardus Bloom, we aim to take some of the stress out of the document legalisation process by arranging these services for you and ensuring that all documents are prepared to the correct standards and in as quick a time-frame as possible, allowing you to complete your applications in good time. Contact us for assistance today.

[1] https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/covid-19/border-closures-and-exceptions/entry-to-new-zealand/critical-purpose-reasons-you-can-travel-to-new-zealand

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