Vatican City 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
Vatican City has the smallest citizen body of any state on New Zealand's visa waiver list — a few hundred people, most of them clergy, Swiss Guards and members of the Curia. Vatican passports are issued in small numbers and are held almost entirely by people travelling in an official or religious capacity.
Travel to New Zealand on a Vatican passport is correspondingly rare, but the Catholic Church has a substantial presence in New Zealand, and clerical and diplomatic travel does occur — for episcopal visits, conferences and Apostolic Nunciature business in Wellington.
Vatican City is on the 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. Vatican passport holders can enter New Zealand for visits, meetings, conferences or transit for up to 90 days under the visa waiver, on the same terms as any other waiver nationality.
Diplomatic and service passports may be handled differently depending on the purpose of travel and any bilateral arrangement in force. If you are travelling on official Holy See business, confirm the correct category with the Apostolic Nunciature before relying on an NZeTA.
The waiver covers visiting rather than working. Taking up a pastoral appointment, a teaching post or any other position in New Zealand requires the appropriate work or religious worker visa arranged in advance, and cannot be handled on a visitor entry.
Stay & validity
Vatican 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, and a renewal voids it with no transfer available. Vatican passports are often issued for the duration of an appointment, so a change of role can mean a new document.
New Zealand requires three months of passport validity beyond your departure. Routings through Dubai, Doha or Singapore may apply a six-month rule of their own, and the strictest requirement on the itinerary governs.
Pricing
Live fees for Vatican 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 Vatican City
Requirements
Everything Vatican 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.
Requests on Vatican passports are usually approved automatically, though the rarity of the document means manual review is somewhat more likely than average. Immigration New Zealand advises allowing up to 72 hours.
Apply at least two weeks before departure rather than one. The Vatican passport is uncommon enough that both the automated system and airline check-in staff may take longer with it, and a longer margin removes the pressure entirely.
Getting there
Rome Fiumicino is the departure point, a short distance from Vatican City, and connects to New Zealand through the Gulf hubs and the Asian gateways. Total journey times run to around 26 to 30 hours.
Best time to go
New Zealand's summer of December to February gives the best conditions across the country, though it coincides with the Christmas season and the New Zealand holidays, when many institutions and dioceses operate on reduced schedules.
February to April and September to November are the practical windows for meetings and visits, with settled weather, normal working schedules and far fewer tourists.
The New Zealand winter of June to August is quiet and inexpensive, but travel between dioceses in the South Island can be affected by weather. New Zealand is 10 to 12 hours ahead of Rome depending on daylight saving in both.
Avoid these
Declines are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on requests from Vatican City — we check for every one of them before submitting.
A Vatican passport does not exempt the holder from the NZeTA requirement. Travel on Holy See business may fall into a different category, but that must be confirmed in advance with the Apostolic Nunciature rather than assumed at the airport.
Religious headwear is acceptable, but the automated check requires the full face to be visible and unshadowed. A photograph where a biretta, veil or zucchetto casts a shadow will be rejected and send the request to manual review.
Vatican passports are rare enough that both automated systems and check-in agents handle them more slowly. Two weeks of margin rather than one removes the risk of a delay becoming a missed flight.
Vatican passports are frequently tied to a role. A change of appointment can mean a new document, which voids any NZeTA linked to the previous number.
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 maintains an embassy accredited to the Holy See, and the Holy See maintains an Apostolic Nunciature in Wellington. Neither is involved in an NZeTA request, which is completed entirely online. For travel in an official capacity, the Nunciature is the right first point of contact to confirm which entry category applies.
FAQs
The questions Vatican passport holders ask most often about travelling to New Zealand.
No visitor visa is required — Vatican City is on New Zealand's visa waiver list. You do need an NZeTA, requested online before departure and checked by the airline at Rome. It covers stays of up to 90 days.
Possibly not in the same way. Diplomatic and official travel may fall under a different arrangement depending on the purpose of the visit. Confirm the correct category with the Apostolic Nunciature in Wellington or the New Zealand Embassy to the Holy See before relying on an NZeTA.
Yes. Religious headwear is acceptable, but the full face must be clearly visible with no shadow across it. A biretta, veil or zucchetto casting a shadow will cause the automated check to reject the image and send the request to manual review.
Up to 90 days per visit on the visa waiver. The NZeTA lasts two years and allows unlimited entries in that period, but each individual stay is capped at 90 days.
At least two weeks, rather than the one week we suggest for more common passports. Vatican documents are unusual enough that automated systems and check-in staff handle them more slowly, and the extra margin removes any pressure.
No. A pastoral, teaching or other appointment requires the appropriate work or religious worker visa arranged before you travel. The NZeTA is a visitor authorisation only.
Your nationality is already set to Vatican City. 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.
