The Department of Internal Affairs: Passports - Children


Home Careers	Services About us	What's new Legal	Forms Resources

Passports - Uruwhenua

Application Forms and Fees

How to Apply for a New Zealand Passport

Photographic Requirements

Passports for Children

Preventing Children Being Taken from New Zealand

Lost or Stolen Passports

Emergency Travel Document

Other Services

Important Notices for New Zealand Passport Holders

How to Contact Us

Passports for Children

Click here for Maori language version

(Statement on the use of macrons)

Return to Passports home page

Applying for a Passport for a Child
Children require their own passport to travel. An application for a passport can be made on behalf of a child who is aged under 16 years.

To apply for a passport for a child:

Complete a separate application form for each child, and
Fill out all the relevant sections of the application, including page 10 'Consent for Passport for Child Under the Age of 16'.

The consent of at least one parent (named on the child's birth registration) or one guardian, (name on the guardianship documentation), is required. However, the Care of Children Act 2004 requires that, where practicable, all the guardians of a child must be consulted, when making decisions about important matters affecting the child. The parent or guardian making the application for the child is responsible for consulting with the other parent or guardians of the child.

A parenting order (formerly known as custody or access orders), that gives day-to-day care or contact to one parent or guardian, will not prevent the other parent or guardian from obtaining a passport for the child. The Passport office can only refuse to issue a passport if there is a court order made in New Zealand, or an overseas court order registered in New Zealand, preventing the issue of a passport or removal of the child from his or her country of residence.

If you are unsure about these matters, you may wish to contact a solicitor for advice.

Guardians who are not the child's parents
If consent is given by a legal guardian who is not a parent of the child, documentary proof of guardianship is required. Please provide the following original documents:

A guardianship order issued by a New Zealand court;
An additional guardian appointment form approved by a New Zealand court; or
A copy of the parent's will appointing the person as a testamentary guardian together with the parent's death certificate.

Please note: A parenting order is not sufficient for this purpose. A step-parent is not, in a legal sense, a child's guardian unless appointed as a guardian through a court process or under a parent's will.

Confidentiality
The Passport Office can only discuss the details of a child's application with the consenting parent or guardian as stated on the application form, unless prior handwritten permission is provided by the consenting parent or guardian.

More Information
For more information see Preventing Children Being Taken from New Zealand .


	Site map	Search	Help	Contact us	Email us	newzealand.govt.nz


Last updated: 01/12/2009