Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has issued a warning to people applying for an NZeTA for travel to New Zealand.
INZ says it's concerned by the number of third party websites overcharging for application services.
NZeTA's became mandatory on October 1 for visitors from visa waiver countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Websites offering application services use names and web addresses that could potentially mislead people into thinking they are official Government websites, such as 'official-newzealand-eta.org' - which is actually registered to a company in California.
INZ says some websites are charging visitors up to 10 times the official price to request an NZeTA.
"We are seeing a growing number of third parties charging visitors for something they can very quickly and easily do themselves and that’s concerning," INZ’s General Manager Stephen Dunstan says.
The department recommends people download the official app, available in Apple and Google Play stores, or to double check they are using the correct website.
Some examples of unofficial third party visa websites include:
- etanewzealand.com
- eta-newzealand.com
- official-newzealand-eta.org
- newzealand-eta-gov.org
- etanewzealand.co.uk
- newzealandetavisa.co.nz
- newzealandetavisa.com
- newzealandvisagov.com
- ivisa.com
- nzeta.com.my
- traveldocs.com
- thetravelvisacompany.co.uk
- visahq.co.uk
Although third party websites are charging the likes of $50 for the service, the NZeTA only costs NZ$12 via the website and NZ$9 on the mobile app.
Dunstan also warned against websites offering express services.
"An expedited service is not available and third parties are only able to submit the traveller's information to INZ using the same web form or mobile app travellers can use themselves," he says.
"In some cases, these third parties are also collecting additional information from travellers, which isn't actually required as part of the NZeTA request."
Newshub.
