Some foreign visitors facing long delays getting visas to enter Australia

[MMDown Under]

The delays in getting new passports are not just affecting Australians.  Some foreign visitors are facing long delays getting visas to enter Australia.  

[losfp]

Yeah it's not a huge surprise.  They've had all this extra time to prepare, so there should be no excuse when the gates opened again... but here we are.

 

My parents are scrambling to get their passports renewed in time for our Jan cruise. Ours and our kids' passports are good (valid to 2027 and 2024 respectively) thankfully.

[wintrev]

24 minutes ago, losfp said:

Yeah it's not a huge surprise.  They've had all this extra time to prepare, so there should be no excuse when the gates opened again... but here we are.

 

My parents are scrambling to get their passports renewed in time for our Jan cruise. Ours and our kids' passports are good (valid to 2027 and 2024 respectively) thankfully.

Hmmm - I noticed this report on the news and thought I would need to renew mine for our Jan cruise as it expired in December. Submitted the paperwork and was approved and processed in two weeks. Mind you Australia Post then took two weeks to get it to me! So I lost 7 months of my previous passport. Maybe new passports are taking longer but my renewal didn't.

[Russell21]

We've got just over 100 days to our next cruise and one of our group can't even get the renewal form for her passport.

 

Edit, Just discovered that a renewal can now be made on line.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Russell21

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, wintrev said:

Hmmm - I noticed this report on the news and thought I would need to renew mine for our Jan cruise as it expired in December. Submitted the paperwork and was approved and processed in two weeks. Mind you Australia Post then took two weeks to get it to me! So I lost 7 months of my previous passport. Maybe new passports are taking longer but my renewal didn't.

You got lucky. I have friends that have been waiting 8 and 10 weeks for their renewal.

[MMDown Under]

I used to get my passport renewal at the Passport Office in Brisbane on the same day.  I guess you can no longer get your passport renewal at a Passport Office.  Who thought of this idea of getting your passport from a Post Office?  Would it be a Government which believes private enterprise is always better?  It is not as if the Government doesn't make money from passports.  My elder daughter was included on my first passport.  Next renewal children had to have their own passport!!  $$

[Docker123]

We got our kids’ first passports when they were each about 1. Not on our passports.

 

of course, it became much more expensive as they each had to have 2 passports.one because of inherited citizenship.

 

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, Docker123 said:

We got our kids’ first passports when they were each about 1. Not on our passports.

of course, it became much more expensive as they each had to have 2 passports.one because of inherited citizenship.

My elder daughter was 3 and included on my Australian passport issued in 1979.  The passport was valid for 5 years.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, wintrev said:

Hmmm - I noticed this report on the news and thought I would need to renew mine for our Jan cruise as it expired in December. Submitted the paperwork and was approved and processed in two weeks. Mind you Australia Post then took two weeks to get it to me! So I lost 7 months of my previous passport. Maybe new passports are taking longer but my renewal didn't.

DH just sent his off for renewal last week. Hopefully it will come back as quickly as your did. He needs it for a cruise mid-August and that cruise falls a week or two short of his passport having six months validity. He allowed ten weeks to get it back so will have lost 8 months if his previous passport.

 

I don't know why passports aren't treated like credit card replacements where when the new card arrives you activate it which effectively cancels the old card. Australian passports get cancelled as soon as you apply for the new one so you are left without a passport at all until your new one arrives. I'm a duel citizen and when I renewed my NZ passport it was all done online and the new one just turned up in the post, along with a big red Cancelled sticker to put on my old one.

[Aus Traveller]

I find it ridiculous for (for instance) a cruise line insisting that a passenger's passport has to have more than six months' validity when they board their cruise, when the Aust government states that the passport is valid until the date of expiration. Some other countries require the six months' leeway, but many don't. For example, NZ requires that visitors have three months' validity past the date of their expected departure from the country.

 

 

[MMDown Under]

37 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I find it ridiculous for (for instance) a cruise line insisting that a passenger's passport has to have more than six months' validity when they board their cruise, when the Aust government states that the passport is valid until the date of expiration. Some other countries require the six months' leeway, but many don't. For example, NZ requires that visitors have three months' validity past the date of their expected departure from the country.

Agree.  Now 6 months at end and how many months allowed for delays at beginning?

[bazzaw]

Ha Ha ! All the Public Servants are still working "from home" !! 🙂 

 

[NSWP]

4 minutes ago, bazzaw said:

Ha Ha ! All the Public Servants are still working "from home" !! 🙂 

 

They need to get their backsides back in their offices, wimps.