Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

A new style of New Zealand passport has been released. In the first artwork change since 1992, it has an embossed silver fern on the black cover.

The new version of the e-passport will be phased in over coming months as the Government uses up old stock of the existing version.

The Department of Internal Affairs says the passport, which contains the holder's biometric data, has more security features and is harder to counterfeit.

It has been produced by a Canadian company as part of a contract worth $100 million.