Macau 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
Macau is a small market for New Zealand travel, but its SAR passport carries the same waiver entitlement as Hong Kong's. Most Macau travellers depart through Hong Kong, forty-five minutes away by ferry or bridge, or through Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Travel is weighted towards family holidays and education, with a Portuguese-speaking community connection that occasionally routes travel through Lisbon rather than Asia.
Macau 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. Macau SAR passport holders can enter New Zealand for tourism, visiting family, business meetings, conferences or transit for up to 90 days under the visa waiver.
The document matters. The waiver applies to the Macau Special Administrative Region passport. Residents of Macau holding mainland Chinese passports are not covered and need a New Zealand Visitor Visa taking several weeks. Residents holding Portuguese passports are covered under Portugal's own waiver entitlement.
The waiver covers visiting rather than working or long study. Employment requires a work visa granted before travel, and study beyond three months requires a student visa applied for in advance.
Stay & validity
Macau SAR 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.
Extending beyond 90 days requires a Visitor Visa applied for from within New Zealand before your existing permission expires, assessed on its merits.
The authorisation is bound to one passport number for two years. Macau SAR passports run for ten years for adults and five for children, so families are the most likely to encounter a renewal inside the window.
New Zealand requires three months of passport validity beyond your departure. Several transit points in the region apply a six-month rule, so plan against the strictest requirement on your itinerary.
Pricing
Live fees for Macau SAR 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 Macau
Requirements
Everything Macau SAR 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.
Macau 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. Because most Macau travellers board their long-haul flight in Hong Kong rather than at Macau International, the NZeTA check happens after a border crossing — a problem found there is harder to resolve.
Getting there
Macau has no nonstop service to New Zealand. Hong Kong, forty-five minutes away by ferry or across the bridge, is the practical departure point and offers direct flights to Auckland. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are alternatives.
Best time to go
New Zealand's summer of December to February coincides with the Macau winter and the Lunar New Year, making it the busiest period on regional routes. Book well ahead.
The regional summer of July and August falls in the New Zealand winter, offering skiing at Queenstown and Wanaka and welcome relief from Macau humidity, though daylight is short.
March to May and September to November are the value windows, with settled weather and better fares. New Zealand is four to five hours ahead of Macau depending on southern 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 Macau — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The waiver applies to the Macau SAR passport. Mainland Chinese passports are not on the waiver list, and Portuguese passport holders are covered under Portugal's own entitlement. Macau residents hold a mix of documents, and eligibility follows the one you present.
Most Macau travellers take a ferry or bridge crossing to Hong Kong before the long-haul sector. The authorisation is checked at whichever airport you first board an international flight, and a problem found there is across a border from home.
Macau passports may record names in Portuguese form with multiple surnames. Enter the name exactly as the machine-readable zone shows it, including every element in the order given.
The authorisation sits against one passport number for two years and does not survive a renewal. There is no transfer process.
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
New Zealand's Consulate-General in Hong Kong covers Macau. It plays no part in an NZeTA request, which is completed entirely online with no appointment. It handles work visas, student visas, residence applications and consular services, and supports visa processing for the region.
FAQs
The questions Macau SAR passport holders ask most often about travelling to New Zealand.
No visitor visa is required — Macau is on New Zealand's visa waiver list. Macau SAR passport holders need an NZeTA, requested online before departure and checked by the airline wherever you first board. It covers stays of up to 90 days.
No. Mainland Chinese passports are not on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so you would need a Visitor Visa applied for several weeks in advance. Macau residence carries no weight — eligibility follows the passport you travel on.
Either qualifies, since Portugal is also on the waiver list. Request the NZeTA on the passport you will actually present at check-in and at the New Zealand border, because the authorisation is tied to one specific passport number.
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.
No. The NZeTA is tied to your passport, not to a departure airport, and it is checked wherever you first board an international flight. Make sure it is approved before you cross to Hong Kong.
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 Macau SAR passport holders including our service fee.
Your nationality is already set to Macau. 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.
