Thread: Kudos to Licensing- Visitors

5 weeks from application to receival for a visitors licence, they ask for 4 month lead time though
- included 2 changes 1 in week 2 of application- change of firearm caliber
another change in week 4 - flight details, airline gets back to me and say they wont fly a rifle- which I then find out from AU Boarder force out is BS, if u don't have ammo they cant say no, U hand it in to Boarder force at the airport, not the airline, - who then takes care of it, they will even make sure it gets from a domestic flight onto the international one, this is either new or I've been doing it wrong, last time before covid and the Chch fiasco with that idiot we shall not name, I just handed rifle in a secure case in to airnz, no ammo, at check in, collected at Chch - declared to cops , showed licence - paid my $24 and on my way

NZ police licensing
Minimum fuss, fair amount of paperwork, clear process all online
excellent communication
leads to a NZ customs importer number because the value of a rifle and scope is more than 1K. Yes any import more than 1k U need a customs number, jeesz add a backpack , and a sleeping bag, never mind a phone or binos, there's blokes i see with phones twice that much in their hands, but Im flying with a "GUN" so doing everything right
NZ customs
quick online application , but now what paperwork will they want, and once I'm on the system, what body checks they gonna do when I flag at the airport?


Wish I could say the same of the process on this side customs fobs you off to the cops , sends you back to customs- which by now is not online or on the phone anymore, this is now a "in person job" who sits in the reception and fills in forms as they generate them, they eventually realize im willing to sleep in their office, so they say its Dept of Defence, but at least helps me fill in the paperwork I m gonna need once Dept of Defence gives me an OK.(only because i already had the form and was asking the questions- I had a tip from a bloke in the gunclub about the right form not going to be available, except for your name and address this form is all customs codes, reads like the stock report in a newspaper)

DOD is a maze of forms -yes u can export a weapon of mass destruction or the parts to make 1-there is a form for it (same form as for some medical equipment)
I phone them up and speak to the most helpful bloke who laughs about the whole process, tells me which forms to fill in , calls me back to say there is a mistake , fixes it , helps me with the next form, calls me the next day with a request of more info. Awaiting the permit.
Now for the forms to import it back to au - condition of visitors licence it must

Old bloke I know remembers walking with a 22 slung over 1 shoulder, swag roll over the other walking around Brisbane rail station changing trains to go rabbiting every other week, guns was considered tools
Now we are tools and guns are dangerous

I have spent so much time exploring government websites, tracking the right forms, stalking the right person and killing forms and butchering paperwork, that i dont know if i will have time or strength left for the real thing 😉