Hon Chris Tremain

Minister of Internal Affairs

20 November 2013 Media Statement
Online passports reach 125,000 in first year

Internal Affairs Minister Chris Tremain says more than 125,000 people have renewed their passports online since the launch of adult passport renewals in November 2012.

“Online adult passport renewals are a part of a drive by the Government to change the way New Zealanders deal with government departments. The Passports Online Renewal Service is a great example of what we can achieve with successful IT projects,” says Mr Tremain.

“The online passport renewal service has saved New Zealanders almost $4 million in passport fees in 12 months. We are the first country to have online passport renewals and people are telling me how impressed they are with the service.

“People expect that it should be easy to deal with government departments for the services they need. The Government is delivering on this as part of our Better Public Services goals. We want 70 per cent of the most common transactions with government to be able to be done online by 2017. Online passport renewals are one of those transactions and are on track to meet the year one Result 10 target.’

The Passport Online Renewal Service is available for adults over the age of 16, who are renewing their passport at a cost of $124.50. A full list of eligibility criteria can be found at www.passports.govt.nz.

Customer feedback regarding online passports

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to you and your team for helping me with my son’s passport application! We had so many setbacks trying to get my wife and son to Korea (to see his aunty), but every person I spoke to were so helpful, polite and friendly.

I was actually shocked to have such good service from a government department!

Thank you most of all to Virginia for following up with our application and making it happen. Thanks to your effort, we were able to get them a flight on time.

Matt M.

I want to say thank you!

On 17 October the Auckland office was particularly helpful at replacing my lost passport – right at the end of the day, and when they were almost ready to go home. They were helpful, friendly, encouraging about the time – and delivered a new passport at 5.15 pm, allowing me to travel to North America that night.

It is easy to complain about service, but this service was REALLY good, and I want to say a well-deserved 'thank you!

Ginny R

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