On 20 April 2020, the New Zealand Government announced that the country will be moving to Alert Level 3 on Tuesday, 28 April 2020.

Under Alert Level 3, people must continue to work from home and as such, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has requested that embassies, high commissions and consular posts continue to support New Zealand’s public health measures and adhere to these requirements.

Even if the Embassy is included in the list of Essential Sectors, most of the consular services provided by the Embassy, particularly passport applications and Overseas Voting (OV) registration involve close personal contact with clients. According to the NZ Government’s COVID-19 website:

“Businesses cannot offer services that involve close personal contact, unless it is an essential service, emergency or critical situation.

If businesses cannot operate safely, workers must not go to work and premises should remain closed.”

For the two-week duration of Alert Level 3, unless another extension will be declared by the New Zealand Government, the Embassy’s personnel will continue to work remotely to process the following applications which could be submitted by mail only:

• Reports of Birth
• Reports of Marriage
• Retention and Reacquisition of Philippine citizenship under RA 9225

Visa processing and releasing, notarial services, fingerprinting and certification for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are still suspended.

For emergency cases, the Embassy’s duty officer may be contacted at (+64) 022 074 6517. You may check the Embassy’s website at https://philembassy.org.nz/ or the Embassy’s Facebook page for updates https://www.facebook.com/PHLinNZ/. You may also send messages via our FB messenger and our email at wellington.pe@philembassy.org.nz.