Visa for Austrailia

[NW Pacific]

Sailing from Hawaii to Sydney- Holland America Cruise line, Oct. 2015

Rep. stated Ship does not provide or sell Visas- thought this strange but anyway, does anyone have first hand knowledge sailing from US to Syndey and best way to obtain a Visa? many thanks

[kuldalai]

US Citizens visiting Australia for Tourist purposes need to obtain an e-Visa before departing from the USA . The e-Visa is applied for and issued on line

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/Services/Pages/electronic-travel-authority-online-applications.aspx

[Globaliser]

... and best way to obtain a Visa?

The best way to get an ETA is through the official Australian government website, to which kuldalai has linked.

 

Often, threads like this one get cluttered with people's recommendations about other websites - about which the posters know absolutely nothing other than that (in some cases) they've used them - which might charge you a handful of dollars less. Personally, I would ignore those other websites and just use the official one.

[robtulipe]

Globaliser expressed his/her opinion and here's mine.

We have relative in Australia which we have visited in the past and are currently visiting with after our over the top Oz Radiance of the Seas cruise we disembarked from last weekend.

The Australian government doesn't actually charge a fee for their ETA but does require you to make the application through an official service provider, one of which likely pays a fee to be part of and linked to on the Australian government ETA web site. There are many other official providers for this application including travel agency, airlines, travel clubs and online sites that one can get this service from. Some will even do it for free as part of their service. We've always have used the site below to get our visitor/tourist ETA with quick, within 12 hours notification and reliable service at the low cost of $9.95USD or 5.95GBP. You pay with a credit card so that also provides protection that doing this gives and I did check easy ETA out before using them for the first time.;)

 

https://easyeta.com/australian-visa/subclass-options.php

Edited March 20, 2015 by robtulipe

[Keith1010]

As two people have said get the ETA on line and pay the fee which is relatively cheap. I have done this four times in the past seven years and did this last Fall for a world cruise that I am currently on that had several stops in Australia.

 

You will have the ETA in a matter of minutes.

 

Keith

[suncityga]

The Australian government doesn't actually charge a fee for their ETA but does require you to make the application through an official service provider, one of which likely pays a fee to be part of and linked to on the Australian government ETA web site. There are many other official providers for this application including travel agency, airlines, travel clubs and online sites that one can get this service from. Some will even do it for free as part of their service. We've always have used the site below to get our visitor/tourist ETA with quick, within 12 hours notification and reliable service at the low cost of $9.95USD or 5.95GBP. You pay with a credit card so that also provides protection that doing this gives and I did check easy ETA out before using them for the first time.;)

 

https://easyeta.com/australian-visa/subclass-options.php

 

Very well stated!!! We have also used EasyETA in the past without any issues.

[Globaliser]

The Australian government doesn't actually charge a fee for their ETA but does require you to make the application through an official service provider, one of which likely pays a fee to be part of and linked to on the Australian government ETA web site. There are many other official providers for this application including travel agency, airlines, travel clubs and online sites that one can get this service from. Some will even do it for free as part of their service.

If you make your application through the Australian government's website, you know that you are dealing with an official provider.

 

It is true that many commercial third parties can also get an ETA for you. Some may be a few dollars cheaper. But it's misleading to describe them as "other official providers". They are not. They're commercial third parties, or sometimes they're fraudsters pretending to be legitimate. Buyer beware.

 

Using a credit card with another provider may protect your money from a fraudster, but that's all it will protect. If you make a visa application through another provider which is not trustworthy, you have more to lose than a few dollars.

[robtulipe]

If you make your application through the Australian government's website, you know that you are dealing with an official provider.

 

It is true that many commercial third parties can also get an ETA for you. Some may be a few dollars cheaper. But it's misleading to describe them as "other official providers". They are not. They're commercial third parties, or sometimes they're fraudsters pretending to be legitimate. Buyer beware.

 

Using a credit card with another provider may protect your money from a fraudster, but that's all it will protect. If you make a visa application through another provider which is not trustworthy, you have more to lose than a few dollars.

 

Easy ETA is an official service provider for Australian ETAs otherwise they would not have access to the Australian government's computer system that enables them to submit the application and get approval for their customer's visas. You can actually follow this up on the Australian government ETA web site to see if you have an existing ETA once you have your approval. They won't issue a new ETA if one has an existing approval without notifying you that you

Basically you're saying not to do any financial transaction on line unless it is linked to a government site. One can check out commercial and service companies that have web sites online quite easily. I just bought a digital camera online today at a very good price from a company website that I have deal with often in the past so I know they are reputable.

Others and I have stated here we have had good and reliable service at a very low cost from this provider, with us many times, so what is your problem with us telling the OP and others on this forum of our satisfaction.

The best way to prevent credit card fraud is to monitor your credit card account online which I do. Even dealing with a government sites doesn't ensure one credit card information is safe as these have been hacked in the past and there are bad apples in all organizations, including governments. ;)

Edited March 21, 2015 by robtulipe

[Keith1010]

We always use the official Australian Site for the ETA.

 

What would be the reason to use any other site?

 

Keith

[robtulipe]

We always use the official Australian Site for the ETA.

 

What would be the reason to use any other site?

 

Keith

It's can be up to half the cost for exactly the same service and result. Also you can pay in $AUS, $USD, SGD or GBP thus avoiding any credit card conversion fees if one of these is the currency of your credit card.

 

From https://easyeta.com/australian-visa/information.php

 

The total cost per tourist visa is $9.95 AUD/USD, £5.95 (GBP), or $11.95 (SGD).

 

Also when using the Australian government ETA site linked to service provider it is that company that bills your credit card not the Oz government.

Edited March 21, 2015 by robtulipe

[Globaliser]

Easy ETA is an official service provider for Australian ETAs otherwise they would not have access to the Australian government's computer system that enables them to submit the application and get approval for their customer's visas.

First, that's not how the ETA system works.

 

In any event, just because a third party commercial provider is allowed access to any particular system, that does not make them an "official" service provider. They're just a commercial service provider. The official service provider is the one that you can reach through the official Australian government website.

Basically you're saying not to do any financial transaction on line unless it is linked to a government site. One can check out commercial and service companies that have web sites online quite easily. I just bought a digital camera online today at a very good price from a company website that I have deal with often in the past so I know they are reputable.

This isn't just a financial transaction and it's not just about buying some goods. Money and possible financial fraud are the less important things here.

 

Someone who's posting here asking for advice about how to get an ETA won't have the faintest idea who you are, just as they don't have the faintest idea who I am. Nor can they be sure about what you or I really know about the service providers that we are recommending. However, they can follow the recommendation that I give and be sure that they are reaching an official government website followed by an officially-approved service provider.

 

If they have someone else that they trust to do it - the cruise line, for example - then they may be perfectly comfortable with that. Or if they have a trusted travel agent that will do this for them, they may be perfectly happy with that, too.

 

If they want to use some other service provider, they're free to do that too. But they should be aware that there's a level of risk involved. That risk simply doesn't exist if they go through the official government website. Everyone will need to work out whether they think that the risk is worth taking for the sake of saving a handful of dollars.

[MMDown Under]

It's can be up to half the cost for exactly the same service and result. Also you can pay in $AUS, $USD, SGD or GBP thus avoiding any credit card conversion fees if one of these is the currency of your credit card.

 

From https://easyeta.com/australian-visa/information.php

 

The total cost per tourist visa is $9.95 AUD/USD, £5.95 (GBP), or $11.95 (SGD).

 

Also when using the Australian government ETA site linked to service provider it is that company that bills your credit card not the Oz government.

 

robtulipe - Thank you very much for your detailed response. I was surprised to learn that the Australian Government outsources the ETA to a service provider who charges so much more than other service providers. I had thought the electronic travel authority (ETA) was free originally.

[robtulipe]

robtulipe - Thank you very much for your detailed response. I was surprised to learn that the Australian Government outsources the ETA to a service provider who charges so much more than other service providers. I had thought the electronic travel authority (ETA) was free originally.

 

Actually the link to service provider on the Oz government site isn't close to being the most expensive at $20AUS as others I seen on the web and heard about from other roll call members charging up to $50USD per submission for this service. Unless you can get this service for free as an benefit for your business or membership in a travel club, EasyETA is the least expensive of the fee charging service providers that I've found to date and we've had great service and results using them for our trips down under.

We actually just returned from visiting family near Perth, WA after our recent Radiance of the Seas cruise.

Edited March 28, 2015 by robtulipe