What an NZeTA Actually Costs, and What Resellers Charge
An NZeTA costs NZ$17 through the official Immigration New Zealand mobile app or NZ$23 through the official website, plus the NZ$100 International Visitor Levy. That is NZ$117 or NZ$123 in total, per person, valid two years. Third-party sites resell the same request for US$99 to US$199.
Quick Facts
| Official price, app | NZ$17 + NZ$100 International Visitor Levy = NZ$117 |
| Official price, website | NZ$23 + NZ$100 International Visitor Levy = NZ$123 |
| Transit NZeTA | NZ$17 (app) or NZ$23 (website). No levy |
| Crew NZeTA | NZ$17 by either channel. No levy |
| Validity | 2 years for travellers; 5 years for airline crew |
| Processing | Allow 72 hours. Investigations can take longer |
| People per request | Up to 10 in a single request through the app |
| Where to request it | nzeta.immigration.govt.nz, or the NZeTA app published by MBIE |
| Reseller pricing observed | US$99 to US$199 for the tourist NZeTA |
| Paid fast-track | Does not exist. INZ sells no expedited channel at any price |
| Prices checked | August 2026, against INZ Fees Guide 1028 (May 2026) |
The official price, by channel
The NZeTA is one of the few New Zealand immigration products where the channel changes the price. Requesting it through the official app is cheaper than requesting it on the website, by NZ$6.
| NZeTA type | Official website | Official app | Levy on top | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traveller | NZ$23 | NZ$17 | NZ$100 | NZ$123 / NZ$117 |
| Transit | NZ$23 | NZ$17 | — | NZ$23 / NZ$17 |
| Crew | NZ$17 | NZ$17 | — | NZ$17 |
The NZ$100 charge is the International Visitor Levy, a separate conservation and tourism levy that most visitors pay alongside the NZeTA. It is charged per person, it is not part of the NZeTA fee itself, and it is never refunded. Australians and citizens of a list of Pacific nations are exempt from it. See the International Visitor Levy explained.
There has been no general New Zealand visa fee or levy increase in 2025 or 2026. INZ's fee page still reads "as of 1 October 2024". If a site quotes you something different, the site is wrong, not the price.
Why the official page does not show you this
There is a mechanical reason people end up on reseller sites, and it is worth understanding because it explains why this happens to careful people too.
INZ's own NZeTA page is about 890 kilobytes of HTML, and the strings "$17", "$23", "$100" and "IVL" appear nowhere in it when the page is fetched. The figures are loaded by JavaScript after the page arrives. A human with a browser eventually sees them. A search engine crawler, a price-comparison scraper or an AI answer engine reading the raw page does not.
Reseller pages, by contrast, state a price in plain text at the top. So when a machine goes looking for "how much does an NZeTA cost", the reseller has an answer and the government does not. That is not a conspiracy; it is a rendering choice with an expensive side effect. It is examined further in why AI answers about New Zealand visas are often wrong.
What the resellers charge
These figures were checked in August 2026. Prices and pages change, so treat this as a snapshot with a date on it rather than a permanent record.
| Site | Charged for a tourist NZeTA | Roughly, against NZ$117–123 | Disclaimer on the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| nzeta.org | US$145 / US$175 / US$199 | About 2.0× to 2.8× | None found. Lists three fee "components" but does not break down the amounts |
| new-zealandeta.org | US$125 to US$145, plus a US$35 cancellation fee | About 1.7× to 2.0× | None found. Domain and layout resemble a government portal |
| VisaHQ | US$99 / US$135 / US$165 | Up to about 2.2× | Discloses a service fee. But shows the visitor levy at $35, a figure superseded in 2024 |
| iVisa | From US$87.99 for the NZeTA | About 1.2× | Reasonably transparent about being a service |
| Byevisa | "US$47 government fee" plus US$25 / US$45 / US$65 service | Misstates the government fee itself | The government fee shown is not the government fee |
| nzeta.nz | Not published; its fees page returned an error | — | Publishes a clear disclaimer that it is an independent travel assistance provider, not affiliated with, endorsed by or associated with the New Zealand Government or Immigration New Zealand |
| nzeta.app | Not published | — | None found. Titles itself "Official NZeTA Application Service" |
| traveleta.nz | Not published | — | None found. Also titles itself "Official NZeTA Application Service" |
| newzealandvisa.uk | Not published | — | None found. Offers three speed tiers |
Several of these operate lawfully as agents. Paying somebody to fill in a form for you is a real service, and a person who finds online forms difficult may reasonably choose it. The problems are narrower and more specific than "these sites are bad":
The word "Official" in a page title is not a credential. Two of the sites above title themselves "Official NZeTA Application Service". Neither is official. Nobody outside nzeta.immigration.govt.nz and the MBIE-published app is.
Speed tiers sell something that does not exist. Three of these sites price by processing speed. INZ publishes no expedited, premium or paid fast-track service, and no such fee appears in its fee guide. A reseller can promise to submit your request quickly. It cannot make INZ decide quickly. See can you pay to speed up a New Zealand visa.
Some of the figures are simply out of date or wrong. One large aggregator still shows the visitor levy at $35, a figure superseded in 2024 — it is NZ$100. Another states a "government fee" of US$47, which is not the government fee. Stale numbers are the most reliable single tell that a page is not being maintained.
The impersonation case
One site goes beyond reselling. As checked on 20 August 2026, immigrationgovnz.com:
- displays a header logo reading "Immigration New Zealand"
- reproduces the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment logo and the New Zealand Government shield
- carries a "Crown copyright © 2026" line in the footer
- displays INZ's real phone numbers, 0508 558 855 and +64 9 914 4100
- mirrors INZ's Visit / Study / Work / Live navigation with an "Apply now" call to action
- carries no disclaimer of any kind
- ranked #10 on Bing for "new zealand visitor visa"
We describe what the page displays. We are not in a position to characterise the operator's intent, and we do not. What a reader needs is the test, and the test is the domain: a genuine New Zealand government immigration page sits on .immigration.govt.nz. Note the t in govt. A .com address, a .gov.nz address and a hyphenated variant are all outside it, no matter what logos appear on the page. The full checklist is in how to tell if a New Zealand immigration website is fake.
Step 1: Confirm you actually need an NZeTA
An NZeTA is for people from visa-waiver countries and territories, transit passengers from transit-waiver countries, and all cruise and cargo ship passengers regardless of nationality. Australian citizens travelling on an Australian passport need neither a visa nor an NZeTA; Australian permanent residents who are not citizens do need one. Anyone not covered by a waiver needs a visitor visa instead, which is a different product at a different price. See the NZeTA explained.
Step 2: Use the app if you can, the official website if you cannot
The app is NZ$6 cheaper per person and can cover up to 10 people in a single request — which for a family of four is a meaningful difference, since the NZeTA fee is charged per person. The official request site is nzeta.immigration.govt.nz.
Do not reach either one through a search advertisement. Type the address, or go to immigration.govt.nz and navigate from there. The paid results on NZeTA searches are dominated by resellers, and in one measured search, four of the top eight results were resellers rather than INZ.
Step 3: Allow 72 hours, and do not pay for speed
INZ's guidance is to allow 72 hours, and it notes that some requests take longer where further checks are needed. Request it well before you book, not the night before you fly. No payment to anyone shortens that window. A comparison of the two official channels is in NZeTA cost: app vs website.
If you have already paid a reseller
You have probably still received a valid NZeTA. Most of these operators do lodge the request; the money went on a markup, not on nothing. What you cannot do is recover the markup from INZ — that money went to a private company, not to the New Zealand government, and INZ has no power over it.
Where to go next depends on what happened, and it is set out step by step in you've paid an immigration scammer: what to do now. Check your NZeTA status through official channels first, because knowing whether you actually hold one changes everything else you do.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an NZeTA cost?
NZ$17 through the official Immigration New Zealand app or NZ$23 through the official website, plus the NZ$100 International Visitor Levy for travellers. Total NZ$117 or NZ$123 per person, as at August 2026.
Why is the New Zealand ETA so expensive?
Most of what people are quoted is not the ETA. The NZeTA fee itself is NZ$17 or NZ$23. The NZ$100 is a separate International Visitor Levy for conservation and tourism infrastructure. And if you were quoted US$150, the difference above NZ$123 is a private company's service charge, not a government fee.
What is the official New Zealand ETA website?
nzeta.immigration.govt.nz, plus the NZeTA mobile app published by MBIE. Only addresses ending in .immigration.govt.nz are official INZ sites. No third-party site is official, whatever its page title says.
Is the NZeTA cheaper on the app than the website?
Yes. NZ$17 in the app against NZ$23 on the website — a NZ$6 saving per person. One app request can also cover up to 10 people, so for families the app is the cheaper channel by a clear margin.
Can I apply for express NZeTA processing?
No. INZ operates no expedited or premium channel for the NZeTA at any price. Sites selling "rush", "priority" or "urgent" tiers are selling their own submission speed, not a faster decision. Allow 72 hours.
Do I have to pay the International Visitor Levy with my NZeTA?
Most travellers do. Transit NZeTAs carry no levy, crew NZeTAs carry no levy, and Australians plus citizens of a list of Pacific nations are exempt. Everyone else pays NZ$100 per person, and it is never refunded.
How long is an NZeTA valid for?
Two years for travellers, or until your passport expires if that comes first. An airline crew NZeTA is valid five years.
Is nzeta.nz an official New Zealand government site?
No. As checked in August 2026 it describes itself as an independent travel assistance provider that is not affiliated with, endorsed by or associated with the New Zealand Government or Immigration New Zealand. It is worth noting that it was the only reseller surveyed publishing such a statement clearly.
