Brazil is on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so no visitor visa is required — but an NZeTA must be approved before boarding. It is requested online, valid two years, with stays of up to 90 days.
90 days
Maximum stay per visit
2 years
NZeTA validity
Multiple
Entries permitted
Under 72 hrs
Typical decision time
100% online
No embassy visit
Overview
Brazil is the largest Latin American market for New Zealand travel, and it is driven overwhelmingly by education. Brazilian students at New Zealand language schools are a substantial and long-established cohort, and the working holiday scheme adds to it. General tourism is growing but remains the smaller share.
There is no nonstop service. São Paulo connects through Santiago, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles or a Gulf hub, with total journey times of around 20 to 30 hours depending on the routing.
Brazil is on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so there is no visitor visa to apply for. Since October 2019 every traveller needs an NZeTA — an online authorisation held against your passport number and checked by the airline before departure.
At a glance
Eligibility
No visa, but an NZeTA is required. Brazilian citizens can enter New Zealand for tourism, visiting family, business meetings, conferences or transit for up to 90 days under the visa waiver.
Study is the point that matters most for Brazilian travellers. A course of three months or less can be taken on a visitor entry, which covers a short intensive English programme. Anything longer — and most Brazilian students in New Zealand study for six months or more — requires a student visa applied for before travel. Arriving on an NZeTA and enrolling in a long course is not possible.
New Zealand operates a working holiday scheme with Brazil, subject to an annual quota that fills fast. It is a separate visa granted before you travel, and an NZeTA confers no right to work.
Stay & validity
Brazilian passport holders may stay up to 90 days per visit. The NZeTA lasts two years from approval and permits unlimited entries in that period, so the cap applies to each individual stay.
The 90-day cap is the reason so many Brazilian students hold student visas rather than travelling on an NZeTA. If your course, plus any travel before or after it, exceeds three months, the visitor route does not work.
The authorisation is bound to one passport number for two years. Brazilian passports run for ten years for adults and five for younger applicants, so a renewal inside the window is possible.
New Zealand requires three months of passport validity beyond your departure. Brazilian routings through the United States require separate US authorisation, and other transit points may apply a six-month rule.
Pricing
Live fees for Brazilian passport holders, shown all-in — the government charge, the tourism levy where it applies, and our service fee, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Brazil
Requirements
Everything Brazilian passport holders need before starting a request. The first five items apply to every applicant; the rest are specific to your nationality.
Passport bio-data page — a clear colour scan or photo showing your photograph, full name, date of birth, passport number and expiry date
Recent passport-style photograph — full face visible against a plain light background, taken within the last six months, no headwear other than for religious reasons
A valid email address, which is where the approval is sent and which you should keep accessible while travelling
A credit or debit card to pay the NZeTA request fee and the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy together
Your onward or return ticket details — border officers can ask to see evidence that you intend to leave
Simple process
Four steps, entirely online, with our team checking every field before anything reaches Immigration New Zealand.
Enter your passport details exactly as printed, answer the health and character questions, and upload your photo. Most people finish in under ten minutes.
Our team checks your photo dimensions, passport number, name spelling and declarations before anything is submitted to Immigration New Zealand.
Your request goes to Immigration New Zealand together with the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy, and we track it until a decision is issued.
There is no sticker or label — the authorisation is held electronically against your passport number. We explain exactly what to show at check-in.
Brazilian requests are approved automatically in most cases, often within minutes. Immigration New Zealand advises allowing up to 72 hours because a proportion are referred to an officer, usually over a photograph the automated check cannot read.
Apply at least a week before departure. One practical point specific to Brazil: confirm that international transactions are enabled on your card before paying, since Brazilian cards are frequently blocked for foreign online payments and a declined transaction leaves the request unsubmitted.
Getting there
There is no nonstop service between Brazil and New Zealand. The trans-Pacific option runs through Santiago or Buenos Aires and is the shortest; the northern option through Los Angeles requires US transit authorisation; the eastern option through a Gulf hub is longest but avoids both.
Best time to go
Brazil and New Zealand share the same seasons, which is unusual for a long-haul pairing and makes planning simpler. The Brazilian summer of December to February is also the New Zealand summer — the best weather in both places, and peak season in New Zealand.
The Brazilian mid-year break in July falls in the New Zealand winter, which suits skiing at Queenstown and Wanaka. For Brazilian students, that is often when a short course is scheduled.
March to May and September to November are the value windows, with settled weather and lower fares. New Zealand is 15 to 16 hours ahead of São Paulo depending on daylight saving.
Avoid these
Declines are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on requests from Brazil — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The most consequential Brazilian error by a wide margin. Most Brazilian students in New Zealand study for six months or more, and that requires a student visa arranged before departure. A visitor entry covers three months maximum, and arriving intending to enrol in a longer programme leads to problems at the border.
Brazilian debit and credit cards are frequently blocked for foreign online transactions by default. A declined payment means the NZeTA request is never submitted, and travellers often assume it went through. Enable international transactions with your bank first.
Routing through Los Angeles means clearing US immigration, which requires a US visa for Brazilian passport holders. The Santiago and Buenos Aires routings avoid the United States entirely and are usually shorter.
Brazilian passports often carry three or four surnames. The NZeTA must match the machine-readable zone exactly, and dropping one is a frequent cause of a mismatch at check-in.
Passport number mistyped
By far the most common problem. The authorisation is attached to the number you enter, so a single wrong character produces an NZeTA that does not exist as far as the airline is concerned.
An undeclared conviction
Immigration New Zealand asks about convictions, deportations and previous refusals. Undisclosed history found later is treated far more seriously than the original offence.
A photograph that fails the check
Shadows across the face, glasses, a busy background or a cropped chin all cause the automated check to reject an image, which turns an instant approval into a manual review.
Conditions
These conditions are set by Immigration New Zealand and do not vary by nationality. Two of them — the passport-linking rule and the cruise rule — catch out a lot of otherwise well-planned trips.
Your authorisation is held electronically against the passport number you entered. There is no label in your passport and nothing to print for immigration. If you renew or replace that passport, the NZeTA does not transfer — you must request a new one.
Every person travelling needs their own NZeTA, including newborns and children. A child cannot be added to a parent's request, and each one needs their own valid passport.
An approved NZeTA lasts two years from the date it is issued and can be used for any number of trips in that period, provided your passport remains valid. It cannot be extended — when it expires you simply request a new one.
The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy funds conservation and tourism infrastructure and is charged alongside the NZeTA request. It currently stands at NZD 100 and is payable once per NZeTA, not once per trip.
An NZeTA lets you board. The decision to admit you is made by a border officer at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Queenstown, who can ask about your funds, your accommodation and your intended departure.
Since October 2019 every cruise passenger arriving in New Zealand by sea needs an NZeTA or a visa, regardless of nationality — including passengers whose nationality would otherwise be exempt.
Consular services
Neither the Embassy nor the Consulate-General is involved in an NZeTA request, which is completed entirely online with no appointment. They handle work visas, student visas, residence applications and consular services for New Zealanders in Brazil. Given how much Brazilian travel is education-related, the student visa route is worth understanding before you book anything.
FAQs
The questions Brazilian passport holders ask most often about travelling to New Zealand.
No visitor visa is required — Brazil is on New Zealand's visa waiver list. You need an NZeTA, requested online before departure and checked by the airline at São Paulo or Rio. It covers stays of up to 90 days.
No. A visitor entry covers study of up to three months only. A six-month course requires a student visa applied for before you travel — it cannot be arranged after arrival, and this is the most common problem Brazilian travellers encounter.
Brazilian cards are often blocked for international online payments by default. Contact your bank to enable foreign transactions and try again — a declined payment means the request was never submitted, even if the form appeared to complete.
Yes. Brazilian passport holders need a US visa to transit the United States, which is a much longer process than the NZeTA. Routing through Santiago or Buenos Aires avoids US transit entirely and is usually shorter.
Up to 90 days per visit. The NZeTA lasts two years and allows unlimited entries in that period, but each individual stay is capped at 90 days.
The cost is the government request fee plus the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy, currently NZD 100, both charged together. The pricing panel on this page loads the live all-in figure for Brazilian passport holders including our service fee.
No. New Zealand operates a working holiday scheme with Brazil, but the annual quota fills quickly and it is a separate visa that must be approved before you travel.
Your nationality is already set to Brazil. Complete the form in under ten minutes, and our team will check every detail before it reaches Immigration New Zealand.
Other nationalities
Stay limits, entry conditions and levy rules differ by passport. Here are the guides for other nationalities.
