Your privacy

The information we ask for as part of your first New Zealand passport application is needed to confirm your identity and eligibility to be issued a New Zealand passport. We will collect the following personal information, with your consent, from your RealMe Verified Identity:

• full name
• date of birth
• city or town of birth
• country of birth, and
• gender.

 We will collect the following personal information from you:

• height
• eye colour
• home address
• home phone number
• email address
• whether you want your application processed on the standard or urgent service
• a digital photograph of you – this photograph will appear in your passport.

 If you are a New Zealand citizen by birth we will collect the following personal information from you:

• the full name of one of your parents the time of your birth, and
• your full name at the time of your birth.

If you are a New Zealand citizen by birth you can also provide another parent’s full name, recorded at the time of your birth, to help us easily identify your birth record.

If you are a New Zealand citizen by grant or descent, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• your full name at the time you obtained citizenship.

If you are a New Zealand citizen by grant or descent, you can also provide your citizenship certificate number to help us easily identify your citizenship record.

If you have had a name change(s) by marriage or civil union, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• date of marriage or civil union
• city/town of marriage or civil union
• country of marriage or civil union
• your surname before marriage or civil union, and
• your spouse’s or partner’s full name.

If you have had a name change(s) by statutory declaration or deed poll, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• date of name change
• city/town of name change
• country where the name change took place
• your full name before the name change, and
• your full name after the name change.

If you are changing back to a name you have previously used, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• the source of the name you wish to use, and
• the full name you are changing back to.

The information we ask for as part of an application to renew your New Zealand passport is needed to confirm your identity and eligibility to be issued a new New Zealand passport. We will collect the following personal information from you:

• your full name
• date of birth
• height
• eye colour
• home address
• home phone number
• email address
• most recent New Zealand passport number and issuing authority
• whether you want your application processed on the standard or urgent service
• a digital photograph of you – this photograph will appear in your new passport.

If you have had a name change(s) by marriage or civil union, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• date of name change
• city/town of name change
• country where the name change took place
• your full name before the marriage or civil union
• your surname or family name after the marriage or civil union
• your spouse’s or partner’s full name.

If you have had a name change(s) by statutory declaration or deed poll, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• date of name change
• city/town of name change
• country of name change
• your full name before the name change and
• your full name after the name change.

If you are changing back to a name you have previously used, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• the source of the name you wish to use, and
• the full name you are changing back to.

If your most recent New Zealand passport has been lost, stolen or damaged, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• whether the passport has been lost, stolen or damaged
• date of event
• city or town of event
• country of event and
• details of event.

You are not required to provide a police report number as part of your application, but you can provide this to us if you have one. If a police report number is required to process your application you will be contacted by the New Zealand Passport Office once your application has been submitted. We will collect the following personal information from you about your identity referee to confirm your identity:

• New Zealand passport number
• full name
• date of birth, and
• home phone number.

If you wish, you can provide the following additional personal information about your identity referee to help us contact them:

• daytime phone number
• mobile number, and
• email address.

The information we ask for as part of an application to renew your child’s New Zealand passport is needed to confirm your child’s identity and eligibility to be issued a new New Zealand passport. We will collect the following personal information about your child from you:

• full name
• date of birth
• height
• eye colour
• home address
• most recent New Zealand passport number and issuing authority
• whether you want your child’s application processed on the standard or urgent service
• a digital photograph of your child – this photograph will appear in your child’s new passport.

If your child has had a name change(s) by statutory declaration or deed poll, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• date of name change
• town or city of name change
• country of name change
• child’s full name before the name change, and
• child’s full name after the name change.

If your child’s most recent New Zealand passport has been lost, stolen or damaged, we will collect the following personal information from you:

• whether the passport has been lost, stolen or damaged
• date of event
• city or town
• country, and
• details of event.

You are not required to provide a police report number as part of your child’s application, but you can provide this to us if you have one. If a police report number is required to process your child’s application, you will be contacted by the New Zealand Passport Office once the application has been submitted.

We will collect the following personal information from you to establish your identity and entitlement to provide consent to a New Zealand passport being issued to your child:

• your relationship to the child
• your full name
• your date of birth
• home phone number
• email address, and
• home address (if different to your child’s home address).

If you have had a name change(s) by marriage, civil union, statutory declaration or deed poll since your child’s birth was registered, we will ask you to provide the following information to confirm your identity:

• the date of name change
• city/town of name change
• country of name change, and
• your full name before the name change.

If you are changing back to a previous name, we will ask you to provide the following information to confirm your identity:

• the source of the name you wish to use, and
• the full name you are changing back to.

If you wish, you can also provide your New Zealand passport number to help us easily confirm your identity.

We will collect the following personal information from you about your identity referee to confirm your child’s identity:

• New Zealand passport number
• full name
• date of birth, and
• home phone number.

If you wish, you can provide the following additional personal information about your identity referee to help us contact them:

• daytime phone number
• mobile number, and
• email address.

If you wish, as part of your or your child’s application, you can also provide us with a different address to have your passport delivered to.

If you request to have your or your child’s passport delivered to:

• a New Zealand address, we will provide your email address and phone number to CourierPost. This will allow them to provide you with your tracking number, delivery updates and contact you if they have issues with delivery.

• an Australian address, we will provide your email address and phone number to Australia Post. This will allow them to provide you with your tracking number, delivery updates and contact you if they have issues with delivery.
• a British address, we will provide your phone number and email address to Royal Mail. This will allow them to contact you if they have issues with delivery.
• anywhere in the world excluding New Zealand, Australia and Britain, we will provide your phone number and email address to DHL. This will allow DHL to send you the tracking details and also be able to contact you if they have issues with delivery.
• More information can be found under ‘Information sharing’.

If you wish, as part of your or your child’s application, you can also provide us with the following information to help us contact you about the application:

• daytime phone number, and
• mobile number.

If you wish, as part of your or your child’s application, you can provide an emergency contact to allow us to contact this person in emergency situations. If you choose to provide an emergency contact we will ask you to provide their home phone number including country code. If you wish, you can also provide the following additional information about your emergency contact to help us contact them in the event of an emergency:

• full name
• address
• home phone number
• daytime phone number
• mobile number, and
• email address.

If you save your or your child’s application, you will receive an automatic email containing a reference number from the Passport Office confirming that your application has been saved.

To access a saved application you will need to log in with the RealMe login you used to start the application.

If you do not complete your application within seven days it will be deleted and you will need to start again.

Before an application is submitted, you can see and correct any of the personal information provided.

After an application has been submitted, if you would like to get a copy of the information held by the Passport Office about yourself or your child, you can make a request under the Privacy Act 1993.

If you wish to see or correct your or your child’s information, contact us for further details.

The Department will make sure the information you provided is not damaged or shared inappropriately. We take special care to ensure that only authorised people are able to view your information.

We may use information sharing agreements, authorised by law, to obtain information from other sources (such as the Citizenship Office and Births, Deaths and Marriages) to establish your identity and confirm your eligibility for a New Zealand passport.

Depending on where your or your child’s New Zealand passport is being delivered, we will provide the email address and contact phone number provided to our trusted courier providers. This will allow them to provide you with your tracking number and contact you if there are any issues with delivery. 

For delivery within the United Kingdom, the email address and contact phone number provided will only be used if there are any issues with delivery. You will not receive a tracking number.

The Department may, under a written agreement between the Secretary of Internal Affairs and the Chief Executive of the organisation requesting the information, share information from your passport records with an organisation that requires the information to facilitate the processing of passengers, verify the identity of a holder of a travel document, or determine whether a person is a New Zealand citizen. This information sharing is authorised under the Passports Act 1992 and the Privacy Act 2020.

The information that may be shared includes, but is not limited to, the information recorded in your passport, the status of your passport, the Department’s passport database key number, and other information relating to your passport that may be required.

We will not share the information you provide as part of your or your child’s application for a New Zealand passport with any other party unless authorised to do so for law enforcement purposes.

The Department uses cookies within the Online Passports Service to track and collect information about your progress through the application process. This information does not identify you individually.

Turning off cookies will affect your ability to use the Online Passports Service but it will not affect your ability to view content on the website.

The Department may collect statistical information about your visit to our website to help us improve it. This information does not identify individuals and makes use of cookies. A cookie is a piece of code that creates a file on your computer to track the pages that you view on our website.

We use Google Universal Analytics to collect and analyse details about the use of our website. You may turn off cookies at any time.  Most browsers have a feature that allows the user to refuse cookies or issues a warning when cookies are being sent – check your browser's 'Help'. The information Google Analytics collects includes:

• the first three parts of the IP address of the device
• the pages accessed on our site and the links clicked on
• the date and time the site was visited
• the referring site (if any) through which you clicked through to this site
• the operating system (e.g., Windows 10, MacOS 11) on the device used
• the type of web browser used (e.g. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox)
• other incidental matters such as screen resolution and the language setting used.

The data is collected and stored on the Google server and is viewable by authorised staff as detailed within their privacy policy.  We do not share this information with any other agency. If you have any questions, email webmaster@dia.govt.nz.

Our current systems mean that we sometimes need to use your information for testing purposes.

Where such testing takes place, the Department will make sure your information is not damaged or viewed by anyone who is not authorised.