FAQ · Politics & Government 14

A New Zealand notary public is legally obliged to keep copies of the documents they act on and of the identification used, so an overseas recipient can check the act by contacting the notary or the Department of Internal Affairs, which authenticates New Zealand notaries. There is no fixed scale of fees, and the cost depends on the service and the number of documents, so you telephone or email a notary with the details and ask for an estimate. An appointment is essential: find a notary who is convenient and arrange the visit by phone or email. If you must sign the document, you sign it in person in front of the notary after proving your identity, whereas a notarisation of a document the notary can verify with the issuing authority may be completed from an emailed copy. The notary does not need to understand a foreign language, provided the person signing understands that language and the effect of the document, because the notary is only identifying the signer and witnessing the signature. For a power of attorney the notary witnesses the signing and can arrange an apostille with the Department of Internal Affairs, or you can apply for that apostille yourself.

Whether a New Zealand document needs an apostille or another form of authentication depends on the country in which it will be used. You can request a paper apostille or an electronic apostille, called an e-apostille, and you should ask the overseas organisation which type it wants. For a paper apostille, the Department of Internal Affairs Authentication Unit puts a covering page, called an apostille certificate, on the documents, ties them together with a ribbon, and adds an official embossed seal. One apostille certificate, on paper or electronic, costs 37 New Zealand dollars, a category A authentication certificate costs 74 dollars, a category B certificate costs 223 dollars, and an urgent service for an apostille, an e-apostille or a category A authentication costs 120 dollars. A translation included with the application is listed at 95 dollars each, unless the Translation Service says the fee is different, and the courier charge within New Zealand is 7 dollars because the department delivers documents by courier for security. You send the completed form and the documents to the Authentication Unit, by post to PO Box 10526, Wellington 6140, or by courier to Level 2, 7 Waterloo Quay, Wellington.

Immigration New Zealand says you can call its contact lines from 06:00 to 22:00 Monday to Friday New Zealand time, excluding New Zealand public holidays. The Customer Service Centre number is 0508 558 855 and is toll-free from New Zealand landlines only, Auckland and the rest of the world use +64 9 914 4100, and Wellington uses +64 4 910 9915. If you are calling about a visa application, staff need your INZ client number, your application number, or your passport number. Callers who do not speak English are told to name their language once an operator answers, stay on the line, and not hang up while an interpreter is connected. The same contact page warns of an increase in phone and online immigration scams aimed at visa holders in New Zealand, and it points readers to the department's news release on what to do if targeted. It also says the phone lines may have wait times, so searching the website first is encouraged.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment describes a telephone and video interpreting service that lets government agencies communicate with clients who have limited English. Interpreters are available by telephone or video 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in over 120 languages. The Telephone and Video Interpreting Services Panel has been established, and the selected providers are 2M Language Services, All Graduates Interpreting and Translating, and Connecting Now. Agencies are told to make sure they have signed the new panel contract. Connecting Now says its phone interpreting is available on demand or pre-booked, while its video service is available when pre-booked, and that in 2024 it helped conversations in over 120 languages with an average connection time of less than one minute. The same provider note refers to more than 125 languages and more than 800 interpreters, operating 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.

A Pharmac decision made with Health New Zealand says that from 1 October 2026 community pharmacies may supply a wider set of funded medicines directly to eligible people without a prescription. For emergency contraception the medicine listed is levonorgestrel tablets of one point five milligrams, and the extended pharmacy service group named for that supply is people under 30. The decision also says funded supply of the emergency contraceptive pill can already be provided directly by pharmacists to people of all ages who need it. It records that a June 2026 decision funded pharmacy consultations for women under 25, and that from 1 October 2026 funded consultations would include women under 30. Pharmacies that choose to offer the service are part funded by Health New Zealand for the consultation, and a user may still pay an extended pharmacy service consultation fee, which is lower for a Community Services Card holder. Prescription copayments may still be charged unless the person is exempt.

New Zealand ShakeOut is a self-run earthquake and tsunami drill, and the Get Ready guidance says the organisers will not send a notification to start it. You can begin with a bell, whistle or alarm, play the ShakeOut announcement on a public-address system, shout that it is an earthquake drill, or use the Facebook livestream. For the drill itself you Drop, Cover and Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, dropping onto your hands and knees, covering your head and neck under a sturdy table or desk if one is within a few steps, or with your arms and hands if there is no shelter, and holding on until the shaking stops. The page says this stops you being knocked over, makes you a smaller target for falling and flying objects, and protects your head, neck and vital organs, and it says not to run outside during the shaking because of falling bricks and glass. If you are in a tsunami evacuation zone you then practise the tsunami hikoi, moving at once to the nearest high ground or as far inland as you can, because a long or strong local earthquake can bring a tsunami in minutes with no official warning. After the drill the advice is to talk through what you learned and change your emergency plan if you need to, and the page listed 666,464 participants registered nationwide.

On public holidays, Metlink trains, buses and ferries in Wellington run a Sunday timetable, with a few stated exceptions. When ANZAC Day or Waitangi Day falls on a Saturday a Saturday timetable runs, and when either of those days falls on a weekend the holiday is taken the following Monday and a Sunday timetable runs. Christmas and New Year use a special timetable, which Metlink says is put online from early December each year. In the 2026 table, 1 January, 2 January, Christmas Day on 25 December and Boxing Day on 28 December are special timetables, while Wellington Anniversary Day on 19 January, Waitangi Day on 6 February, Good Friday on 3 April, Easter Monday on 6 April, ANZAC Day on 27 April, the King's Birthday on 1 June, Matariki on 10 July and Labour Day on 26 October are Sunday timetables. Off-peak fares apply on public holidays except when you pay cash, but normal fares, including peak fares, still apply on non-holiday days in the Christmas and New Year period even though the services are reduced. The Metlink contact centre stays open on public holidays, with special hours in the holiday period, and school buses do not run in school holidays although child concessions still give child fares.

New Zealand Police set the speeding infringement fee by how far the driver is over the limit, with 30 dollars for 10 kilometres an hour or less and 630 dollars for 46 to 50 kilometres an hour over. The steps in between are 80 dollars for 11 to 15 kilometres an hour over, 120 dollars for 16 to 20, 170 dollars for 21 to 25, 230 dollars for 26 to 30, and 300 dollars for 31 to 35. Further up the same table, 36 to 40 kilometres an hour over is 400 dollars and 41 to 45 is 510 dollars. At more than 40 kilometres an hour above the limit a driver could also receive a 28-day licence suspension. At more than 50 kilometres an hour over the limit a driver could be charged with careless, dangerous or reckless driving. The fee is not the only consequence, because the page says demerit points are added as well, and it describes the figures as a general guide rather than a substitute for the legal documents.

A learner motorcycle licence in New Zealand comes with conditions set out by the NZ Transport Agency. You must not ride between 10pm and 5am, you must not carry a passenger on the motorcycle, moped or in a sidecar, and you must not tow another vehicle. An L plate has to stay on the rear of the motorcycle or moped, and you may ride only a LAMS-approved motorcycle. The agency says riders face severe penalties if they ride outside those conditions. It recommends at least 120 hours of practice before a practical test. You can apply for a restricted licence from the age of 16 and a half if you are a confident, safe rider, either by completing a competency-based training assessment or, after holding the learner licence for at least 6 months, by passing a practical test, and the learner licence itself expires after 10 years.

New Zealand Passports says you may use a professional photo service or your own device, but the application can be delayed if the picture fails the rules. The photo must be a colour portrait with a 3 to 4 aspect ratio, saved as a jpg or jpeg file of between 250 kilobytes and 5 megabytes, from 900 to 4500 pixels wide and 1200 to 6000 pixels high, and less than 6 months old. Selfies are rejected because a close shot distorts the face, so someone else should stand about one point five metres away and hold the camera at eye level, leaving a clear gap around the top and sides of the head and including the shoulders. You stand at least half a metre in front of a plain light background, face the camera with your mouth closed and eyes open, and keep hair off your face. Sunglasses are forbidden, tinted or thick-framed glasses must come off, and a head covering is allowed only for a religious or medical reason if the whole face stays visible. Filters, digital edits and artificial-intelligence changes are not allowed, a scan of a printed photo is not accepted for an online application, and a baby is laid on a plain light sheet and photographed from above with eyes open and no other person in the frame.

Citizens Advice Bureau says you may need a notary public rather than a justice of the peace when the legal documents will be used overseas. The work it lists includes authenticating documents, collecting sworn statements, administering oaths, certifying that papers are genuine for use overseas, and preparing documents for overseas use, for example an adoption of a child from overseas. To find a notary office you search the online register on the New Zealand Society of Notaries website. Notaries may charge whatever they think is reasonable for the time the job takes, so the bureau suggests asking two or more and comparing the charges. A justice of the peace, by contrast, does the work free of charge as a volunteer. The bureau page that sets this out was last checked on 21 April 2025.

Citizens Advice Bureau, on a page last checked on 18 December 2023, says a New Zealand official document used overseas may need an authentication, also called an apostille, meaning a government certificate that the signature, stamp or seal is genuine. The office that issues it is the Department of Internal Affairs Authentication Unit. Papers that may need this include university records, a power of attorney, wills and probate, medical records, birth, death, marriage, civil union and dissolution certificates, a passport, criminal-conviction information, and a driver licence. You ask the overseas organisation whether it wants originals or copies certified by a notary, a translation, a recently issued document, and a paper or electronic apostille, and you complete the application form from the government website. Post goes to the Authentication Unit at the Department of Internal Affairs, PO Box 10526, Wellington 6140, and a courier goes to Level 2, 7 Waterloo Quay, Wellington. To hand the papers over in person you must first book a Births, Deaths and Marriages office in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, and the bureau says the fee varies because some countries need a more complex authentication.

KiwiRail tells people to call 0800 808 400 for a level-crossing emergency or fault, a blocked railway line, damaged overhead wires, or a faulty alarm or barrier arm. General enquiries use the email contactus at kiwirail dot co dot nz, with an aim of replying within 3 to 5 business days, or the phones 0800 801 070 and +64 4 498 3000, and the after-hours number is 0800 801 070 extension 43042. The Auckland office is the Millennium Centre at 604 Great South Road, Ellerslie, with mail to Private Bag 92138 at the Auckland Mail Centre, and the Wellington office is Wellington Railway Station at 2 Bunny Street, with mail to PO Box 593, Wellington 6140. Interislander bookings and general enquiries use 0800 802 802. Freight questions, including schedules, bookings and prices, use 0800 351 351. Media calls use +64 4 498 2038 or the address mediaenquiries at kiwirail dot co dot nz, permit questions use nationalpermits at kiwirail dot co dot nz, and building next to the rail corridor is handled at environment at kiwirail dot co dot nz.

Tourism New Zealand says visitors in the country are covered by consumer protection laws that require businesses to treat consumers fairly, but it describes itself as a marketing agency with no legal power to step into a dispute. A complaint has to be taken up directly with the operator, and the page points people to the Ministry of Consumer Protection website for how to complain effectively. Someone who wants to speak to a person about travel information can call the i-SITE visitor network on 0800 474 830. Visa questions are directed to Immigration New Zealand or to +64 9 914 4100. For a stay, talk to the accommodation provider first, and if that provider belongs to an association, often shown on its website, the complaint can be taken further with the association. Air New Zealand is treated as a separate organisation, so airline complaints, ticket changes and lost property go to Air New Zealand, while a complaint about the Police, such as a speeding fine or treatment by officers, uses an expression of dissatisfaction form on the Police website.