EU passport holders eligible to use eGates

Passport holders from all European Union (EU) member states have now been made eligible to use New Zealand's automated eGates on arrival and departure.

An additional 15 EU countries were added to the list of eligible passport holders who can use the automatic processing gates from Monday, 23 September.

The automated gates speed up the passport checks, making entering and exiting the country faster than the manual processing with a customs staff member, Customs group manager border operations Dana McDonald said.

"Our eGates use sophisticated biometric software and information from ePassports to carry out necessary checks within seconds."

He said that enabled frontline customs officers to put increased focus on other tasks, like assessing high-risk travellers.

The new inclusion means ePassport holders aged 10 and older from all 27 EU member states can use eGates, bringing the total number of eligible countries to 37 - more than 85 percent of all arriving and departing travellers.

"This latest change meets Customs' previously signalled plan to open eligibility to all EU member states, and we intend to open eGates to even more countries later in the year, subject to feasibility trials proving successful," McDonald said.

All travellers are still required to complete a declaration, which can be done digitally if travellers prefer, either online at travellerdeclaration.govt.nz or via the New Zealand Traveller Declaration app.

EGate access was now available to ePassport holders aged 10 and older from the 37 countries listed below.

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Italy
• Japan
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• People's Republic of China
• Poland
• Portugal
• Republic of Ireland
• Republic of Korea (South Korea)
• Romania
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States of America.