Romania 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
Romanian travel to New Zealand is a relatively young market that has grown quickly since the country joined the visa waiver list. It is weighted towards independent long-haul travel and towards visiting the sizeable Romanian diaspora that has settled in Auckland and Christchurch over the last two decades.
Bucharest connects to New Zealand through the Gulf hubs and Istanbul, with total journey times of around 28 to 32 hours. There is no nonstop service.
Romania 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 linked to your passport number and checked by the airline before departure.
At a glance
Eligibility
No visa, but an NZeTA is required. Romanian citizens can enter New Zealand for tourism, visiting family, business meetings, conferences or transit for up to 90 days under the visa waiver.
The waiver covers visiting only. Employment requires a work visa granted before travel, and study beyond three months requires a student visa. Working holiday schemes are country-specific and change over time, so check whether one is currently open to Romanian nationals rather than assuming.
Eligibility follows the passport rather than residence. Romanian citizenship is held by a considerable number of people in Moldova, and a Romanian passport qualifies wherever the holder lives. A Moldovan passport does not — that traveller would need a New Zealand Visitor Visa.
Stay & validity
Romanian 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.
Because a substantial share of Romanian trips are extended family visits, the 90-day limit matters. Extending requires a Visitor Visa applied for from inside New Zealand before your existing permission expires.
The authorisation is bound to one passport number for two years. Romanian passports run for ten years for adults over twenty-five, five for younger adults and three for children — so a renewal inside the window is common for younger travellers.
New Zealand requires three months of passport validity beyond your departure. Routings through Dubai, Doha or Istanbul may apply a six-month rule, and the strictest requirement on the itinerary governs.
Pricing
Live fees for Romanian 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 Romania
Requirements
Everything Romanian 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.
Romanian 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. Romanian itineraries always involve at least one connection, so a problem discovered at Bucharest check-in cannot be resolved before the first leg leaves.
Getting there
There is no nonstop service between Romania and New Zealand. Bucharest connects through Doha, Dubai and Istanbul, with Vienna and Frankfurt as alternatives. Total journey times run to around 28 to 32 hours.
Best time to go
New Zealand's summer of December to February is the reverse of the Romanian winter and gives the best conditions across both islands. It is peak season, and coincides with the New Zealand Christmas holidays if you are visiting family.
February to April is the value window, with settled autumn weather and considerably fewer visitors. September to November is the spring equivalent.
The Romanian summer of July and August falls in the New Zealand winter, good for skiing at Queenstown and Wanaka but short on daylight. New Zealand is 9 to 11 hours ahead of Romania 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 Romania — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The machine-readable zone strips ă, â, î, ș and ț to plain letters. The NZeTA must match that encoded version rather than the accented printed page, since that is what the airline system compares against.
Many Romanian citizens also hold Moldovan documents. Moldova is not on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so you must request the NZeTA on the Romanian passport and present that same document at check-in and at the border.
Romanian passports for adults under twenty-five run for five years and children's for three, so a renewal inside an NZeTA's two-year life is common for younger travellers. The authorisation does not transfer.
Having relatives in New Zealand, including residents or citizens, does not change the 90-day limit. A longer stay needs a Visitor Visa applied for before your existing permission expires.
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 is in Warsaw and is accredited to Romania, with an honorary consulate in Bucharest. Neither is involved in an NZeTA request, which is completed entirely online. They handle work visas, student visas, residence applications and consular assistance for New Zealanders in Romania.
FAQs
The questions Romanian passport holders ask most often about travelling to New Zealand.
No visitor visa is required — Romania is on New Zealand's visa waiver list. You do need an NZeTA, requested online before departure and checked by the airline at Bucharest. 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.
The Romanian one. Moldova is not on New Zealand's visa waiver list, so a Moldovan passport would require a Visitor Visa. Request the NZeTA on the Romanian document and present that same passport at check-in and at the border.
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 Romanian passport holders including our service fee.
Use the version in the machine-readable zone at the bottom of your passport photo page, which strips them — ș becomes S, ț becomes T, ă becomes A. That encoded form is what airline systems compare against.
No. The visitor category covers tourism, family visits, business meetings and conferences only. Employment requires a work visa granted before you travel, and working holiday schemes are country-specific — check whether one is currently open to Romanian nationals.
Your nationality is already set to Romania. 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.
