Do I actually need to appear in Court and if so which Court should the application be filed in?

Yes, except in Napier and Hastings, everyone needs to appear in Court on a hearing date allocated by the Court.

If you have been disqualified by the District Court, the application must be filed in the same District Court where the sentencing took place

USEFUL TIP: If you find yourself being charged with an offence in a Court that is distant from where you normally reside and you intend to plead guilty to that charge, (unless there are other reasons for not doing this) it pays to have the case transferred to your local court for sentencing (it always surprises us how often this is not done and people end up having to travel to the other end of the country to have their Work Licence application dealt with).

If your licence has been suspended as a result of excess demerits there are no restrictions on where the application must be filed (and the District Court with the soonest hearing date is the obvious choice if you have convenient options).