Simplified departure card to be introduced

Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson announced today that a new departure card will be rolled out next month.

The simplified card will feature seven fewer questions for visitors than the current one.

“We’ll only be asking for information that we really need and can’t get from anywhere else. We don’t need to know the residential address where visitors are staying in New Zealand.

“Making departure cards shorter and easier to fill out will make for a more pleasant end to visitors’ stays in New Zealand,” Maurice Williamson says.

Approximately five million passengers depart New Zealand every year, and while New Zealanders heading overseas will still need to complete more questions than visitors, they will also find the streamlined card easier.

“The information collected goes into some incredibly important statistics, like population numbers, and inflation in the Consumers Price Index”.

Statistics New Zealand, Customs and Immigration have worked together on the new card.

“The next logical step is to move to collecting departure information electronically, which is in line with the Government’s goal of New Zealanders completing transactions with Government in a digital environment. Customs will be leading work on how to do this,” Mr Williamson says.