New Zealand's borders are fully open to visitors from anywhere in the world.

COVID-19 vaccination or testing requirements are no longer required to enter New Zealand by sea on any type of vessel. 

Advanced Notice of Arrival

The Advance Notice of Arrival (ANA) form needs to be completed by the owner/master of the vessel and submitted at least 48 hours before arrival in New Zealand territorial waters – 12 nautical miles.


The ANA is a legal requirement and the owner/master is liable to prosecution for not submitting the ANA in the required timeframe and for not providing the ANA in the specified form and manner.

Submitting the ANA

  • For commercial vessels and cruise ships, the form must be completed in full and emailed to apicustodian@customs.govt.nz
  • For recreational vessels, yachts and small craft, the form must be emailed to yachts@customs.govt.nz
  • The ANA form, including attachments must be provided to New Zealand Customs, the Ministry for Primary Industries, and the Health Protection Officer at port of arrival (who does not require the attachments).

New Zealand border agencies Advance Notice of Arrival (DOC, 359KB)

Commercial vessels and cruise ships

Advance Notice of Arrival (DOC, 284KB)

Recreational vessels, yachts and small craft.

Maritime Declaration of Health - must be submitted 12-24 hours before arrival at the same time as the No Change of Health Status Report.

A Maritime Declaration of Health must be completed by all first porting vessels, even if there is no illness on board. The Maritime Declaration of Health must be completed by the master of the vessel and countersigned by the ship’s surgeon if there is one. It should be completed and provided to the Medical Officer of Health or a Health Protection Officer when the No Change of Health Status Report is submitted. In practice, completed Maritime Declarations of Health are often sent to the vessel’s agent for forwarding to health authorities.

Any illness reported on the Advance Notice of Arrival should be further detailed in the Maritime Declaration of Health.

Maritime declaration of health (PDF, 641 KB)

No Change of Health Status Report - must be submitted 12-24 hours before arrival

The ship’s Master must provide a ‘no change of health status’ confirmation 12-24 hours before arrival (Health (Quarantine) Regulations 1983 Regulation 10). The confirmation must be submitted to health officers at the ship’s port of arrival. The time of ‘arrival’ is considered to be when a ship reaches the pilot station or reaches an anchorage point in the vicinity of the pilot station. The pilot station is the point at the harbour where the ship is considered to have entered the harbour and be under pilot instruction, i.e., where the pilot will board the ship.

No Change of Health Status Report - Editable PDF- PDF, 81 KB

Pratique

The ship’s master must submit documentation to satisfy New Zealand legal requirements for issuing pratique (quarantine/health clearance). This function may be undertaken through the ship’s agent on behalf of the master.

The Advance Notice of Arrival, the Maritime Declaration of Health, and the No Change in Health Status information must be received in order for a ship to be granted quarantine clearance (pratique).

An exemption has been created that allows pratique to be granted while there is COVID-19 on board a vessel. This exemption applies to all vessels and is limited to cases of COVID-19. 

 

Health Act 1956 exemption for ships with COVID-19 onboard

This Director-General of Health Notice exempts all ships with COVID-19 onboard from section 107(1) of the Health Act, on the condition that no other quarantinable disease is confirmed or suspected to exist onboard the ship. The exemption applies to all categories of vessels and does not undermine the existing pratique process for other quarantinable infectious diseases.  

 

Exemption of ships liable to quarantine from application of section 107(1) of the Health Act 1956 in relation to COVID-19 

Symptomatic person when in the harbour

While in New Zealand waters, the Master of a ship must inform the local Medical Officer of Health or a Health Protection Officer when any person on board in any harbour at any time has symptoms which may reasonably be suspected to be caused by a notifiable infectious disease (Health Act 1956 Section 76).

A notifiable infectious disease is one listed in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Health Act 1956.

This applies even after the vessel has been issued pratique.

SITREP for cruise vessels to identify COVID-19 cases

If on arrival, or during the course of the vessel journey around New Zealand, cases of COVID-19 are identified on board a cruise vessel, the master of the vessel is required to report this via a Situation Report (SITREP).

The master or other officer is required to provide daily SITREPS if COVID-19 is on board a vessel, regardless of the number of cases. The SITREPs do not have any impact on the other mandatory documentation requirements identified above.

The SITREP form must be completed in full and emailed to ITOC@health.govt.nz

SITREP - Cruise Vessels within New Zealand (XLSX, 120KB)

More information

Trade Single Window

The Trade Single Window is an electronic channel for the cargo and excise industries to submit information to and receive responses from border agencies (New Zealand Customs Service, Ministry for Primary industries, Maritime New Zealand, and the Ministry of Health). It allows border agencies to use shared information to process craft and cargo data efficiently. Get more information on the New Zealand Customs website.

To register for Trade Single Window go to tsw.govt.nz.