New Zealand eGates for Groups: A Note for Agents

The short answer

New Zealand eGates for groups work for travellers aged 10 or over who hold an ePassport from one of 59 eligible countries and territories, after they complete the New Zealand Traveller Declaration. Everyone else in the party uses a staffed desk, so Explera DMC sets the group's meeting point after baggage and biosecurity, not at passport control.

A group rarely clears a border as one block. At New Zealand airports, most adults on the right passport walk through an eGate in a minute or two, while a family with a young child or a client on another passport waits for an officer. That split is the whole planning problem. Our New Zealand team has written the full eGates briefing. This note covers New Zealand eGates for groups, for agencies that sell New Zealand next to other destinations.

Who Can Use New Zealand eGates?

Age. New Zealand Customs lowered the minimum age from 12 to 10 in May 2024.
Passport. The traveller needs an ePassport from a country or territory on the Customs list.
The list. Customs added 11 places on 13 October 2025, among them Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico. That took the total to 59.
Both directions. Customs says the gates work on arrival and on departure.

A hand holding a passport above a suitcase handle

What Has to Happen Before the Gate?

The New Zealand Traveller Declaration. Every arriving traveller completes it before passport control, and it covers biosecurity as well, so clients declare risk goods there. An eGate also does not replace an NZeTA or a visa. A client without the right entry permission has a problem long before the gate. Our New Zealand group visas note and biosecurity note cover both.

How Should Agents Plan the Arrival?

Expect the group to split, and tell the tour leader in advance who is likely to need a staffed desk: children under 10 with their families, and anyone on a passport outside the list. We meet the group after baggage and biosecurity, and we leave a buffer before the first coach transfer, because long-haul flights often land close together.