Can I leave USA and return to New Zealand with an expired New Zealand passport?

Upvote:8

Timatic (courtesy KLM) says not:

  • Passports and other documents accepted for entry issued to nationals of New Zealand must be valid on arrival.

Upvote:8

CAVEAT: FOR REAL LEGAL ADVICE CONTACT A LAWYER

There are actually two different questions here

  1. Can New Zealand deny entry to a citizen?
  2. Can you get there without valid papers?

The answer to the first is "probably not" although the immigration officers can (and probably will) make the process pretty miserable for you. It's legally somewhat murky and hence immigration offices try to avoid the situation in the first place. Hence they often hoist the enforcement onto the airlines.

Which brings us to question 2: No airline will allow you to board without a valid passport or visa. That's clearly spelled out in the contract of carriage: each passenger is responsible for having proper papers and the airline has every right to deny you boarding if that's not the case. The airlines are highly motivated to enforce this since they can be fined heavily by the immigration office.

So the more nuanced answer is: if you manage to get to an entry point you would probably be able to get in, although perhaps with delays and potential fines. However, it will be almost impossible to get there in the first place.

The obvious right course of action would be to contact a New Zealand consulate in the US and have your passport renewed.

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