New electronic travel authority scam

Immigration NZ says unofficial websites are vastly overcharging for new electronic travel authorities.

Some visa processing websites are charging up to 10 times the official processing fee for the electronic travel authorities (ETAs), which became mandatory from October 1, and are also used to collect the $35 a head tourism and conservation levy.

Immigration NZ general manager Stephen Dunstan urged visitors to use the official government website (immigration.govt.nz/nzeta) or ETA mobile app to avoid unnecessary and exorbitant fees being charged by unauthorised third party visa websites.

He said a growing number of companies with no connection to Immigration NZ or the New Zealand Government were operating under potentially misleading names, such as officialnewzealand-eta.org and newzealandeta-gov.org, and charging visitors up to 10 times the official price of an ETA.

‘‘An ETA costs just $12 using the website or $9 using the mobile app and only takes a matter of minutes to complete. Travellers shouldn’t need to fork out more money than the official cost and should make sure that they are not being misled into paying more.’’

Dunstan said the unofficial websites claimed to provide a faster service but third parties were only able to submit the traveller’s information using the same web form or mobile app travellers could use themselves.

National MP Todd McClay said the ETA app was bureaucratic and a hassle for travellers.