If you are a New Zealand bankrupt, and you want to leave New Zealand (for example: after a Christmas holiday visit home), it is essential that you obtain permission from the Insolvency Service before you leave New Zealand.
If you leave New Zealand without first obtaining permission, you can be punished with a jail term of up to one year and a fine of up to $5,000, or both. It's not worth the risk. It doesn't matter which passport you travel on.
The Insolvency Service will be closing from 3pm on Tuesday 24th December and will re-open at 8.30 am Friday 3rd January 2020. If you need travel permission for the Christmas period, we recommend starting to plan ahead now. Once you have applied for permission it can take up to 10 working days to be granted. Being granted permission is not automatic, but in most cases it is granted. There are various factors that will increase your chance of receiving permission to travel.
We recommend that you try to apply for permission once you know your travel dates, but before booking tickets, just in case permission is refused. If permission is refused you may lose your travel payments. If you are already in New Zealand, you will legally be unable to leave.
If you are not yet bankrupt, and this is what you intend to become, you need to go through that process first, and obtain the bankruptcy order, before the travel permission process can begin. It usually takes about two weeks after filing the bankruptcy application, before the bankruptcy order is made, but we would expect this time to become longer the closer it gets to the busy Christmas season. If you need to apply for bankruptcy and have it done and dusted well before the Christmas period we recommend starting this now, or in the next 1-2 weeks.
If you leave New Zealand without first obtaining permission, you can be punished with a jail term of up to one year and a fine of up to $5,000, or both. It's not worth the risk. It doesn't matter which passport you travel on.
The Insolvency Service will be closing from 3pm on Tuesday 24th December and will re-open at 8.30 am Friday 3rd January 2020. If you need travel permission for the Christmas period, we recommend starting to plan ahead now. Once you have applied for permission it can take up to 10 working days to be granted. Being granted permission is not automatic, but in most cases it is granted. There are various factors that will increase your chance of receiving permission to travel.
We recommend that you try to apply for permission once you know your travel dates, but before booking tickets, just in case permission is refused. If permission is refused you may lose your travel payments. If you are already in New Zealand, you will legally be unable to leave.
If you are not yet bankrupt, and this is what you intend to become, you need to go through that process first, and obtain the bankruptcy order, before the travel permission process can begin. It usually takes about two weeks after filing the bankruptcy application, before the bankruptcy order is made, but we would expect this time to become longer the closer it gets to the busy Christmas season. If you need to apply for bankruptcy and have it done and dusted well before the Christmas period we recommend starting this now, or in the next 1-2 weeks.