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Wearing apparel and personal effects

Immigrating Personal Travelling to NZ

If you're bringing wearing apparel and personal effects, please read the information on this page.

Please visit the Prohibited and restricted items page and the Ministry for Primary Industries website for biosecurity regulations before you consider shipping your goods to NZ.

Personal effects can include, but are not limited:

  • Wearing apparel (eg, clothing, shoes, glasses)
  • Articles of personal adornment (eg, jewellery, watches)
  • Personal grooming devices and items (eg, shavers, hair dryers/straighteners)
  • Mobility devices (eg, pushchair, baby car seat, wheelchair)
  • Medical devices and supplies (eg, sleep apnoea machine, blood pressure monitor, diabetic devices and needles, hearing aids)
  • Personally owned medications, including prescription medicines (up to 3 months’ supply) as allowed under Ministry of Health guidelines. Refer to process: medicines: processing medicines imported into NZ. Controlled drugs must travel with you and cannot be sent as unaccompanied baggage
  • Toiletries (eg, skin care products, perfumes, make up etc)
  • Handbags, suitcase, back packs
  • Protective equipment (eg, helmets, ski boots, goggles, wetsuit etc)
  • Personal electronic mobile devices (eg, mobile phone, laptop)

Note: You do not have to be in NZ when your shipment arrives.

If you have household effects visit the Household effects webpage.

You and your personal effects must meet the following criteria:

  • The personal effects must be personally owned by you while you were overseas
  • The personal effects must be for your own use
  • The personal effects must not be intended for any other person, or for gift, sale or exchange
  • Personal effects can be new except for personal electronic devices e.g cell phones and laptops.

If the effects are declared at a value over NZ$1000 Import Entry Transaction Fee will apply.  Visit the Goods Clearance Fees webpage for more information.

If you do not meet all of the above requirements Duty and GST will apply.

Step 1

The shipping company that has transported your personal effects should contact you when your effects arrive or are due to arrive in NZ.

This shipping company may complete your Customs clearance on your behalf, or you can contact a Customs broker of your choice to manage the Customs clearance.

You can also obtain clearance through New Zealand Customs directly.

No matter who you choose to complete your clearance, you will be required to provide the documents in Step 2.

Step 2

For a Customs clearance to be completed, you will need to provide the following documents:

Email these documents to service.delivery@customs.govt.nz.

Note: Customs will not prepare or complete a clearance without all documents being received by our clearance team.

Step 3

Customs will prepare your clearance provided the above documents have been emailed to us.

Customs may examine your shipment to verify any of the details you have provided, this may delay your clearance.

Customs will send you an email once clearance has been finalised advising you of the next step:

Amount payable:

You will receive an email from Customs with an invoice/statement attached. You will be required to pay this amount online prior to the release of your shipment. Visit the Paying Customs webpage for information on making a payment.

Once you have made payment, your shipping company will receive automatic notification from Customs that your personal effects can be released to you

Or

Nothing to pay:

If there are no Customs charges, you will receive an email from Customs confirming your shipment is cleared.

Contact your shipping company to arrange delivery of your personal effects.

If you have general enquiries, please visit the Contact us page.