A trip to Bali for a mate's wedding turned into a big ordeal for Australian tourist Matt Vanderberg last week over a small detail.
A 1cm tear on the photo page of his passport led to the social media manager being sent back home after waiting 12 hours for a flight.
He was accompanied by two armed airport police at all times.
"Wherever I went they had to follow. If I went to the bathroom, they had to follow," said Vandenberg.
Once back in Sydney, Vandenberg sorted his paperwork and rushed back for the wedding, learning the expensive lesson to check your passport before you book.
Tips for Kiwi holidaymakers
Deputy chief executive service delivery and operations at the Department of Internal Affairs, Maria Robertson, told Seven Sharp that a small tear constitutes damage, which can invalidate a passport.
"The agency at the border will have to make a judgement at the time about whether they think that there's a risk that the passport has been tampered with," she said.
Robertson also said that most countries require six months of validity on your passport upon arrival to ensure that you will be able to leave again, but that different countries have different rules.
"There's a couple of hundred countries that all have their own rules about the amount of time you have to have on your passport in terms of validity."
She urged Kiwis to "check and double check" that they've done everything required and to protect and keep their passports safe.
The Kiwi passport was recently ranked the world's sixth 'most powerful', granting visa-free entry to 188 countries.
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