New Zealand Citizens Missing Overseas

Family and friends travelling or working overseas often fail to make contact after being in touch regularly. There are various reasons for this and it may not be that the person is in trouble. You should make all reasonable attempts to contact a missing family member or friend before seeking assistance from:

• local Police in New Zealand (who would use Interpol: international police contacts)

or if required:

• through the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs Consular Division (64-4-439 8000), the New Zealand Consulate-General in Los Angeles ph (310) 207 1605 or the Embassy ph (202) 328 4800.

Note that in the USA the time that local police will classify a person as “missing" varies between states but no action to “list" is taken usually unless a few days have passed. Local police can advise on this.

Reporting a missing person

Missing persons are primarily a Police matter and family/friends in New Zealand are advised to contact their local Police Station in New Zealand to file a report. The Police ask Interpol to investigate through its international police contacts.

What the LA Consulate or the Embassy can do

If you are in the USA or we are contacted through the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we will try to help if you have made a concerted effort to contact the New Zealander concerned and you have serious concerns for their safety.

For us to respond, we would need to have the following information:
Full name, place and date of birth, physical description (and photo if possible), passport number, details of accompanying friends, details of travel plans (flight dates, destinations, hotel names and towns, last known whereabouts) and your relationship to the missing New Zealander.

We would follow up on contact details, check our register of New Zealand citizens, and check with local authorities, hospitals, etc.

What we cannot do

We cannot assist unless you have made an extensive search yourself. Nor do we help locate individuals in case involving temporary lack of contact, child custody, maintenance support, debt collection or provide a tracing service for persons who have simply lost contact with family or friends overseas.

We cannot help non-New Zealand citizens unless they are members of the immediate family of a New Zealand citizen.

If we locate someone we will not divulge their whereabouts against their wishes (but will pass on a message to call home).

Other options

You may wish to contact the New Zealand Red Cross, mainly for conflict zones, ph NZ (64-4-472-3750) or the Family Tracing Service, Salvation Army (64-4-382-0710) or email familytracing@nzf.salvationarmy.org which operate world-wide missing persons enquiry services. A fee is payable.