Australian visa question

[mcpepe]

I'm so excited about our fast approaching departure, sailing from Sydney to NZ. I did my electronic visa for Australia ages ago and it does specify that's it's electronic and that I'm in the system.

 

I'm just leery that I don't have a paper visa in my hand to show at the ship, getting off ship, etc. Can someone alleve my worries that I don't have a paper anything to show??

 

Thanks!! :o

[GradUT]

Don't worry! If you got confirmation that you are in the system, you are in the system. This will become apparent as soon as you check in for your flight to Australia at the airport.

 

I've made this trip many times and never had a problem--you won't either.

[chris_kelowna]

We purchased our visa online and although we don't have a paper visa, we do have a letter from them which I was able to print out. It has the details of our visa on it.

[Globaliser]

I did my electronic visa for Australia ages ago and it does specify that's it's electronic and that I'm in the system.

I hope that it wasn't that long ago. The ETA is only valid for one year from issue (although you are permitted to enter right up to the last day of its validity and then to stay for the permitted duration - three months, IIRC - from the date of that entry).

[Desert Cruizers]

I was considering getting our Visas Online but our TA infomred me she would get them for us.

[GradUT]

Your TA can certainly do it for you. Is she paying the fee as a courtesy to you or will she be charging you for it? The fee for an ETA is AUD 20.00, so I'd do it myself if the TA is charging you more than U.S. $21.00. It's super-easy to do online.

[2goldens]

Your TA can certainly do it for you. Is she paying the fee as a courtesy to you or will she be charging you for it? The fee for an ETA is AUD 20.00, so I'd do it myself if the TA is charging you more than U.S. $21.00. It's super-easy to do online.

 

Our TA does it for us and there is no fee. She said she usually does it about 30 days pre departure

[Desert Cruizers]

I will be getting with our TA before to long and see when she wishes to think about booking flights for Sydney. We can't do it sooner then 330 days out so we still have time in as much as we won't leave here until March 15 of 2014 and I will verify the Visas. Since I booked 3 cruises and my SIL joined up, she might not charge in appreciation for the added business.:)

 

I have the Visa application in my AOL Favorites so can do it easy enough.

[Globaliser]

Your TA can certainly do it for you. Is she paying the fee as a courtesy to you or will she be charging you for it? The fee for an ETA is AUD 20.00, so I'd do it myself if the TA is charging you more than U.S. $21.00.

TAs don't have to pay to get an ETA, as there is technically no fee for an ETA. It is thus not uncommon to find TAs providing ETAs to clients for no charge.

 

The AUD 20 charge made by the Australian government is a service fee, and it is also common to find other services charging a service fee of this order to do it. Unfortunately, the general public has no direct access to the ETA application process to do it for free.

 

While it seems a little pedantic to point all this out, it might be useful for someone who thinks that they can use the information to negotiate their TA into doing their ETA with no charge.

 

Note for European readers: The above relates to the ETA and NOT to the eVisitor which European visitors will normally need. The eVisitor is available directly from the Australian government for no charge, and there is virtually no reason on earth why you should pay anyone to get an eVisitor for you.

[GradUT]

That's interesting, Globaliser. While I knew the AUD 20 was a service fee and that the ETA itself was free, I did not know that travel agents could make ETA applications for free. (Why is that? Isn't the Australian government losing out on a significant chunk of change or isn't it that significant?) Anyway, now I know why travel agents tout "free visas" to their American clients. You learn something new everyday.

[Bocadude85]

We bought our visas online last month. I printed out the confirmation page that pops up once the visa is approved. I know you do not need the confirmation but it gives me peace of mind knowing that I have it.

[robtulipe]

For those who need to pay to get an ETA for Australia we recently used EasyETA.com for our Voyager of the Seas cruise next month. We were very satisfied with their service.

We had our confirmation by email in about five hours after applying and were billed $9.95CAD each. Not only did we get at a lower cost than the $20AU each the link to third party service provider on the AU official site was charging, we also saved the exchange rate and convertion fee our credit card company would have charged for a total saving of around $23for the two of us since it appears they charge you their fee, $9:95 or $5:95GBP in your local currency.

In my ETA online search some websites were charging up to $39AU or 25GBP for for each ETA application.

I checked out this San Diego CA, USA company online at sites like Trip Advisor and their facebook page. There are some links on their main web page. Everyone who had used them to get their ETA seemed to be satisfied. A few people had concerns or problems which were mostly cause by errors on their part on the application or from them not finding or erasing the confirmation email. In all of these situations, Easy ETA, helped to resolve the issue.

 

Also if you want to check out if your ETA is valid go to the Australia government site for the ETA application and do a dummy application. Note you won't be able to do a normal check on that site if you have not used them to apply as you won't have a reference number from their system.

https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp

Complete the application procedure and just before you have to give any payment information you should get the message below if your ETA is valid.

 

The ETA you have applied for cannot be issued online because you already have a current visa for travel to Australia with the following data and conditions: followed by those dates and conditions for your ETA.

[robtulipe]

Here is a link to Easy ETA

 

http://easyeta.com/

[debsjc]

Globaliser, can I just check please...... for UK citizens, should I just apply for the E-Visitor directly on the Australian Government website? Thanks.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/evisitor.htm

[Globaliser]

Globaliser, can I just check please...... for UK citizens, should I just apply for the E-Visitor directly on the Australian Government website? Thanks.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/evisitor.htm

Exactly so.

 

Often, you'll get an instant response. Sometimes it can take up to three days or so. Rather counterintuitively, that seems to happen more often to people who are regular visitors to Australia and have long and/or continuously held valid visas/ETAs/eVisitors. But if you don't get an immediate approval, there is a tracking facility on the website anyway so you can be assured that the application has been received.

[sunny4jj]

Here is a link to Easy ETA

 

http://easyeta.com/

 

Thanks for info!

[debsjc]

Exactly so.

 

Often, you'll get an instant response. Sometimes it can take up to three days or so. Rather counterintuitively, that seems to happen more often to people who are regular visitors to Australia and have long and/or continuously held valid visas/ETAs/eVisitors. But if you don't get an immediate approval, there is a tracking facility on the website anyway so you can be assured that the application has been received.

 

Thank you.

[CRUISEBOY305]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm doing a celebrity cruise out of Sydney next January. What is the difference between the ETA and the visa? Which one do I need? I"m going to be in Sydney a few days pre-cruise and then the cruise is all New Zealand.

 

Thanks =)

[MMDown Under]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm doing a celebrity cruise out of Sydney next January. What is the difference between the ETA and the visa? Which one do I need? I"m going to be in Sydney a few days pre-cruise and then the cruise is all New Zealand.

 

Thanks =)

 

As you will be a short term visitor, you will need an ETA.

 

An Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) provides authorisation to travel to and enter Australia and is electronically linked to your passport.

 

It is for short term stays for either tourism or business purposes.

 

You can apply on line.

 

https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp

[Grumpy100]

I let the cruise line handle it for us. I booked directly with Princess and it was included in all the fees for the trip.

I also worried about it but when we checked in I asked about it and they said everything was fine.

I worried more about the luggage getting to us as we flew AA and then transferred to Qantas. I checked the luggage all the way through from PBI-LAX and to Sydney. It all worked out but I worry anyway.

Enjoy your cruise.

[footloose455]

When I used a link to apply for an Australian visa provided by my cruise ship's website for a trip to Sydney next November, the charge was going to be $40 usd. I decided to go through the Australian gov't ETA site and paid $20, (although after reading these boards I now realize you can get it cheaper or for free via your TA). Being a first time cruiser, and since I didn't use the ship's website to do this with, I was wondering if I needed any kind of paperwork for the visa when I embark on this cruise (Celebrity Millennium in Honolulu harbor going from Honolulu to Sydney in November), or does this just get linked up electronically to the passport so they will see this in their data base when I give the passport to them? Thanks much for any advise!

[Globaliser]

I was wondering if I needed any kind of paperwork for the visa when I embark on this cruise (Celebrity Millennium in Honolulu harbor going from Honolulu to Sydney in November), or does this just get linked up electronically to the passport so they will see this in their data base when I give the passport to them?

It's electronic, and linked to your passport. So you don't have to carry any paperwork, although some people carry a printed copy of the confirmation for peace of mind.

[footloose455]

Thanks for the quick response.

[GradUT]

I suppose the link provided on the cruise line's website allowed them to take $20 of that $40 cost for the AUD visa. It's good you didn't enrich them by doing it that way.

 

Besides, it's always better to go to the source--in this case, the official Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship--as you did.

 

Also, don't worry about getting it cheaper through your travel agent. Not all of them do that.

[Globaliser]

I suppose the link provided on the cruise line's website allowed them to take $20 of that $40 cost for the AUD visa.

Actually, the cruise line would probably have kept all $40. AIUI, the Australian government does not charge travel agents for the ETA itself, which is why travel agents can provide it to clients for free. The $20 charged by the government website is its own service fee, which pays for the provision of the web service by which you can get the ETA if you use this channel.