Planning to visit
Everyone entering Australia needs to have a visa – even those just seeking a brief holiday, so make sure you are prepared before you take your trip to Oz.
For holiday makers, Australia offers Electronic Travel Authorities (ETA) to people from most western countries. The procedure is very simple. You can either give your passport to your travel agent when the booking is made and he/she can arrange the ETA, or you can apply for an ETA online (please note that you must be outside Australia before applying for an ETA.) To apply online click here.
ETAs are available both for holidays and short-term business purposes.
If you are coming for a holiday, or to visit family, the ETA is most common, but it is always possible to apply for a visitor visa if, for example, you do not come from an ETA country or you wish to visit for longer than 3 months. For detailed information about visitor and sponsored visitor visas please download the Ministerial Guidelines on Visitor Visas.
Family Visits
It is difficult to obtain visitor visas from some countries, and in the case of family visits, you may be required to obtain a sponsored visitor visa, which involves putting up a bond which is returned to you when your relative leaves. In other cases, the family member in Australia may be required to lodge an appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal in order to succeed.
Students
The process for obtaining a student visa for Australia was massively overhauled in 2002. The basic procedure is to identify a course which you want to do, making sure it is an approved course for study on the searchable database at CRICOS (http://cricos.detya.gov.au) ; this site also provides details of course locations and costs). After selecting the course and contacting the institution you will need to obtain a confirmation of enrolment which is used to lodge a student visa application. There are different procedures for people studying at different levels and holding different passports, which are explained on DIMIA form 1160i (http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1160i.pdf ) . To identify the assessment level for your passport, go to the assessment level form 1219i (http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1219i.pdf) and follow the table. If you are Assessment Level 1 for your passport nationality and course level, you can apply in Australia. For all other assessment levels you will most likely need to apply from overseas. Overseas students are now a major part of the Australian economy. In recognition of this, the Department of Immigration has made it possible to thoroughly assess eligibility and apply online. To do this, go to http://www.immi.gov.au/students/index.htm first.
Business People
Business visitors may apply for three month visas either as business ETA holders ( http://www.eta.immi.gov.au) or if from a non ETA country, for a subclass 456 visa. For longer stays it is necessary to obtain advice from DIMIA or a migration agent, as the options are limited. Since March 2003 it has not been possible to apply for a four year independent executive business visa unless sponsored by an Australian or overseas business.
Sports, Education, Entertainment, Medical
For information on these possibilities and other visitor visas, go to the DIMIA Visitor site ( http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/special-activity/visa-options.htm)
Working Holiday Makers
If you are between 18 and 30 you may be able to obtain a one year working holiday visa. This is a visa you can only hold once in your life. Currently, people holding the following passports are eligible: The United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, the Republic of Ireland, the Republic of Korea, Malta, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Finland, the Republic of Cyprus, France, and Italy, Belgium, Estonia and Taiwan. Details are normally available from Australian overseas missions in participating countries, or the DIMIA website ( http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/index.htm).
Retirement
For people who have enough money to look after themselves and enjoy Australia after they turn 55, there are retirement visas, with concessions for Australian resident children, however since 1 July 2005 you'll need to be able to invest considerable sums to qualify for this, see http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/special-activity/410/index.htm and http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/special-activity/405/index.htm
Costs
All the official charges (except skills assessment for skilled migration and exact medical and police clearance charges) are set out in form 990i ( http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i.htm) . This link also allows you to see how much the application will cost if lodged in a foreign currency.