Israel is on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so no visitor visa is required — but an NZeTA must be approved before you board. 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
New Zealand occupies a particular place in Israeli travel culture. The extended post-army trip is close to a rite of passage, and while South America and India take the largest share, New Zealand draws a steady and highly visible flow of young Israeli travellers — enough that hostels in Queenstown and the Bay of Islands routinely carry Hebrew signage.
Alongside that, there is a well-established working holiday route and a smaller stream of family and business travel. Israeli visitors tend to stay long and travel independently, often in groups.
Israel is on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so there is no visitor visa and no appointment at the Embassy in Tel Aviv. 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. Israeli citizens can enter New Zealand for tourism, visiting family, business meetings, conferences or transit for up to 90 days under the visa waiver.
New Zealand operates a working holiday scheme with Israel, subject to an annual quota and an age band. It is a separate visa granted before you travel, and quotas fill — check current availability before planning a trip around it. An NZeTA gives no right to work of any kind.
Eligibility follows the passport rather than residence. Israeli permanent residents who are not citizens, and travellers on laissez-passer or temporary documents, are not covered by the waiver and need a New Zealand Visitor Visa applied for well in advance.
Stay & validity
Israeli 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 rather than an annual total.
Ninety days is the constraint that matters most for the long post-army trip. Israeli travellers routinely plan four to six months in Oceania, and the New Zealand portion cannot exceed 90 days at a time. Crossing to Australia and returning starts a fresh count, but border officers assess the overall pattern and repeated long stays attract questions.
The authorisation is bound to one passport number for two years. Israeli passports are issued for ten years for most 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. Israeli routings through Dubai, Doha, Bangkok, Hong Kong or Istanbul may apply stricter rules of their own, and the strictest requirement on the itinerary governs.
Pricing
Live fees for Israeli 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 Israel
Requirements
Everything Israeli 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.
Israeli requests are approved automatically in most cases, often within minutes. Immigration New Zealand advises allowing up to 72 hours because a proportion are referred for manual assessment, usually over a photograph the automated check cannot read.
Apply at least a week before departure. For groups travelling together after military service — a very common pattern — request every NZeTA at the same time rather than leaving individuals to sort their own. The traveller who forgets is refused at Ben Gurion while the rest of the group boards.
Getting there
There is no nonstop service between Israel and New Zealand. Tel Aviv connects through the Gulf hubs, Istanbul, Bangkok and Hong Kong, with total journey times of around 26 to 32 hours depending on the routing.
Best time to go
New Zealand's summer of December to February is the reverse of the Israeli winter and gives the best conditions across both islands. It is peak season, and Israeli travellers arriving then find Queenstown and the Bay of Islands at their busiest.
February to April is the best-value window for a long trip — settled autumn weather, warm sea into March, thinning crowds and much better availability in hostels and on the Great Walks. October and November work similarly in spring.
The Israeli summer of July and August is the New Zealand winter, good for skiing at Queenstown and Wanaka and very quiet elsewhere. New Zealand is 9 to 11 hours ahead of Israel depending on daylight saving in both countries.
Avoid these
Declines are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on requests from Israel — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The long post-army trip frequently exceeds what the visitor waiver allows in one go. Each New Zealand entry starts a fresh 90 days, but hopping to Australia and back repeatedly to extend a stay is a pattern border officers recognise, and entry can be refused on arrival.
Hebrew names can be rendered in Roman letters several ways — Yosef or Josef, Cohen or Kohen. The NZeTA must match the machine-readable zone of the passport exactly, not the spelling you use on social media or a bank card.
Israeli travellers commonly move in groups, and the recurring failure is one person assuming a friend handled it. Each traveller needs their own authorisation against their own passport number, checked individually at Ben Gurion.
The working holiday scheme is quota-limited and must be granted before you travel. Picking up hostel, orchard or hospitality work on a visitor entry is a breach that is actively checked in Queenstown, Marlborough and Central Otago.
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
The Embassy in Tel Aviv plays no part in an NZeTA request — the process is entirely online with no appointment and no passport submission. It handles work visas, student visas, residence applications and consular services for New Zealanders in Israel. Working Holiday Visa applications are also made online through Immigration New Zealand.
FAQs
The questions Israeli passport holders ask most often about travelling to New Zealand.
No visitor visa is required — Israel is on New Zealand's visa waiver list. You do need an NZeTA, requested online before departure and checked by the airline at Ben Gurion. It covers stays of up to 90 days.
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. Only British citizens receive a longer allowance.
Not on a single visitor entry. Each arrival starts a fresh 90 days, so many travellers split the trip with time in Australia or the Pacific. Be aware that repeatedly leaving and returning to extend a stay is a pattern border officers recognise, and entry can be refused. A Working Holiday Visa is the proper route for a longer stay.
Do not transliterate it yourself. Copy the Roman-letter version exactly as it appears in the machine-readable zone at the bottom of your passport photo page, since that is what airline systems compare your NZeTA against at check-in.
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 Israeli passport holders including our service fee.
No. New Zealand operates a quota-limited working holiday scheme with Israel, but it is a separate visa that must be approved before you travel. An NZeTA confers no right to work at all.
Yes, without exception. Each traveller needs an NZeTA linked to their own passport number, and it is checked individually at the departure gate. The most common failure on group trips is one person assuming someone else arranged it.
Your nationality is already set to Israel. 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.
