Peru is on New Zealand's transit visa waiver list. An NZeTA lets you transit through Auckland Airport, but visiting New Zealand requires a Visitor Visa applied for before you travel.
Transit only
What the NZeTA covers
2 years
NZeTA validity
24 hours
Maximum layover
Under 72 hrs
Typical decision time
100% online
No embassy visit
Overview
Peru sits on New Zealand's transit visa waiver list rather than the full visa waiver list. That single fact determines everything else on this page: an NZeTA can carry a Peruvian passport holder through Auckland Airport on the way to somewhere else, but it does not permit entry into New Zealand.
The transit case is a real one for Peruvians. Auckland is a natural stopping point on the trans-Pacific route between South America and Australia or Asia, and travellers connecting through it need the authorisation even though they never leave the terminal.
For an actual visit — tourism, family, business, study — you need a New Zealand Visitor Visa, applied for before you travel and assessed by an immigration officer. That process takes weeks and should be started before any flights are booked.
At a glance
Eligibility
It depends on your itinerary. Changing planes at Auckland and departing within 24 hours falls under the transit visa waiver, and an NZeTA is what you need. Entering New Zealand for any purpose requires a Visitor Visa granted before departure.
The Visitor Visa is a full application requiring evidence of funds, your employment or business ties, an explanation of your travel plans and, in some cases, medical or police certificates. It is assessed individually and takes several weeks — it cannot be arranged at short notice.
Work and study need their own categories. New Zealand's working holiday schemes are not available to Peruvian nationals in the way they are to visa waiver countries, employment requires an employer-supported work visa, and study of any length requires a student visa. None of these can be arranged from an NZeTA.
Stay & validity
The transit concession is narrow: Auckland International Airport only, a maximum of 24 hours, and you remain in the international transit area throughout. You cannot clear immigration, collect checked baggage, leave the terminal or spend a night in an Auckland hotel.
An NZeTA issued on this basis is still valid for two years and covers repeated transits, so a route you use regularly needs only one authorisation. It never becomes permission to enter the country.
A connection longer than 24 hours falls outside the waiver and needs a Transit Visa or Visitor Visa arranged in advance. Trans-Pacific schedules frequently produce overnight layovers that cross this line.
Your passport must be valid for at least three months beyond your departure from New Zealand, and you need a confirmed onward ticket plus, where required, a valid visa for your onward destination. Airlines check both at Lima before boarding.
Pricing
Live fees for Peruvian 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 Peru
Requirements
Everything Peruvian 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.
NZeTA requests for transit are usually approved within minutes, with Immigration New Zealand advising up to 72 hours. A Visitor Visa takes several weeks and requires supporting documents and biometrics.
The most useful advice on this page is to establish which document you need before booking. Peruvian travellers who buy a ticket assuming an NZeTA covers a holiday, then start a Visitor Visa application, frequently run out of time and lose the fare.
Transit conditions
Transit without a visa is a narrow permission with hard limits. Read these before you book a connection through Auckland — a routing that breaks any one of them needs a different authorisation.
Transit without a visa is available at Auckland International Airport and nowhere else in New Zealand. You cannot transit through Wellington, Christchurch or Queenstown on this basis.
You must depart within 24 hours of arriving. Overnight connections that exceed that window need a Transit Visa or a Visitor Visa instead.
You remain in the international transit area for the whole layover. You cannot clear immigration, collect checked luggage, leave the terminal or spend the night in an off-airport hotel.
You need a confirmed ticket to your next destination and, where that destination requires one, a valid visa for it. Airlines verify both before boarding.
Getting there
Lima connects to Auckland through Santiago on the LATAM trans-Pacific service, which is also where the transit case arises — Peruvians heading to Australia or Asia often route through Auckland even though they never leave the airport.
Best time to go
For a genuine transit the season is irrelevant, since you never leave the terminal. For a visit on a Visitor Visa, Peru and New Zealand share the southern hemisphere seasons — December to February is summer in both, and peak season in New Zealand.
March to May and September to November are the value windows for a visit, with settled New Zealand weather and lower fares on the LATAM trans-Pacific service.
New Zealand is 17 to 18 hours ahead of Lima depending on southern daylight saving, so you cross the date line and arrive two calendar days after departure.
Avoid these
Declines are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on requests from Peru — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The most consequential error. Peru is on the transit waiver list, not the visa waiver list. Arriving in Auckland intending a holiday on an NZeTA results in refusal of entry and return on the next available flight at your own cost.
The transit waiver requires a confirmed onward ticket and, where the destination requires it, a valid visa. Australia requires a visa for Peruvian passport holders, and an Auckland transit onward to Sydney fails at the Lima check-in desk without it.
Trans-Pacific schedules frequently produce connections that arrive in the evening and depart the following afternoon, crossing the 24-hour limit. That needs a Transit Visa or Visitor Visa arranged in advance.
Peruvian passports carry both paternal and maternal surnames. The authorisation must match the machine-readable zone exactly, including the order shown.
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 regional mission for much of South America is in Santiago, with honorary consular representation in Lima. Neither issues NZeTAs, which are handled entirely online, but the Visitor Visa that most Peruvian travellers actually need runs through Immigration New Zealand with supporting documents and biometrics.
FAQs
The questions Peruvian passport holders ask most often about travelling to New Zealand.
Yes, for a visit. Peru is on New Zealand's transit visa waiver list, not the full visa waiver list. An NZeTA only covers changing planes at Auckland within 24 hours. To enter New Zealand you need a Visitor Visa applied for before you travel.
An NZeTA for the Auckland transit, plus a valid Australian visa for your destination. You must stay airside at Auckland and depart within 24 hours. Airlines check both documents at Lima before boarding.
No. Under the transit waiver you remain in the international transit area for the entire layover, which cannot exceed 24 hours. To leave the airport you would need a Transit Visa or a Visitor Visa arranged in advance.
Several weeks, and longer at busy periods. It requires evidence of funds, your travel plans and sometimes medical or police certificates, and is assessed individually. Start the process before booking non-refundable flights.
Include both, in the exact order and spelling shown in the machine-readable zone at the bottom of your passport photo page. Omitting the maternal surname is a common cause of a mismatch at check-in.
Not on an NZeTA. Employment requires an employer-supported work visa and study of any length requires a student visa, both granted before you travel. The working holiday schemes available to visa waiver countries do not extend to Peruvian nationals.
Your nationality is already set to Peru. 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.
