annabel1

Hi guys,

We are due to move out to NZ in August and have realised that two of us could really do with renewing our UK passports. There are only have 12 months left on them and I am aware how expensive it will be to renew from NZ (double the cost compared to UK if not a bit more !)

My question is what happens with the NZ visa's which are currently in the passports ? will they be placed into the new passports when they are renewed ? or will they need to go back to INZ ?

Any advice / experience would be greatly appriciated,

Many thanks
Annabel

P18PPS

I don't think it's anymore expensive out here and was certainly processed quickly for us. I'd check on the UK embassy websites out here to get the price, the forms are processed in a similar way to those in the uk in that you fill out the forms (which you download from website) then complete and take into local post shop who do a cursory check and then send them off to the embassy for you - it didn't take anymore than a couple of weeks for us. Then you have to take your old passports and new ones to the NZ immigration services office (there is one in Auckland) and queue up and get the residency visas put back into the new ones - relatively inexpensive (I think about $60 per passport).

alanmacc

Hi

If you renew your passport once renewed you need to then send it off to NZIS who charge another fee to replace the nice blue stickers ....... bit if a pain and pretty much a rip off but such is life

annabel1

Thanks for the reply, I have had a quick look at the uk embassy page and thought ........ Eeeekkkk ! It's $334 for an adult renewal compared to £77 in the uk ! I think I may need to get them renewed before we leave.
Now I just need to find out the charge to get the visas stuck into the new passports !
At least once they are done they will be good for 10 Yrs !

simonsi

AFAIK its $90 to transfer anything of any remaining length into a replacement passport.

chocolate cake

I'd disagree, it's definitely worth renewing in the UK, has it's significantly more expensive in NZ. I think was about twice as much when I renewed mine last year.

Genie3

Just about to renew mine eek! The cost here is crazy compared to the UK

annabel1

It sure is crazy compared to the UK charge.
I was really tempted to renew mine when I visit the UK, but it just gets complicated with needing to get the blue stickers swapped over, as well as the time, taking a day out to visit the passport office to get it done in a day !


......... unless any one has any suggestions ?

simonsi

Interestingly, a passport issued abroad is issued by the FCO, not the UKPA so the (large) fee probably helps pay for the foreign office itself not just for the passport!

Factoring in the cost of doing it any other way at this distance and the fee looks comparable and I suspect they know that :-(

Persephone

I have just mentioned this on another thread but if you renew a UK passport early you can get up to 9 months carried forward. This may not help you as you will have to transfer visas but it's info that others may find useful. Your issue seems to be that you have soon to be expired passports and visas that will need transferring. All you can do is look at the relative costs about renewing in the UK or NZ and the costs of transferring your visa and cost it up for yourselves. Bear in mind my first sentence, at the most you would lose 3m of your passport 'time' if you only have 12m left.
Hope this makes sense