Australian Visa for US Passport holder

[timbom]

Have been going thru hell to collect a visa to enter Australia.  Over two weeks ago I filled out an electronic Visa application for entry into Australia.  Within a couple of hours I had mine granted and my wife's came back as pending requesting additional information.  Some of the stuff they wanted was crazy like wanting a copy of her marriage cert. (because she had another name before we were married);  We recently celebrated or 50th and could not find it so we sent in a copy of the church cert.  We packed all of that up and sent it in that day. Have heard nothing since other than they received it.

 

Last week I talked with the passport office in Australia and they suggested we could apply for a normal visa which we did over a week ago.  This week I again discussed this with them and they suggested we reapply for in transit visa for her as we are only staying in Australia for thee days (this visa application was really crazy and took hours to enter data on).  They will not give me any information on the visa other than it has been received.

 

Hopefully I will hear something back next week on one of these applications and not have to cancel my trip (costing me thousands) which is leaving Seattle Tue 6 September as Carnival has told me I can not get on ship without a visa. 

 

Am I the only one having these type of problems getting a visa?? 

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

I have heard and read numerous reports that the Australian office handling visas has a tremendous backlog of applications for various types of visas. I don't know what the solution for you is.  

[cruiser3775]

Try asking this question on Trip Advisor, in the Australia Forum. There are some real experts there.

[MMDown Under]

Write to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, on line and explain your dilemma and the urgency.  At least that will get it moved up the line and common sense may prevail.  

I'm sorry you are being inconvenienced in this way.  

[NSWP]

The passport office in Canberra is in melt down. My daughter is due to fly out with her 16 yr old daughter to NZ on 5 Sept for a holiday, 16th birthday present. 3 months ago application etc went in for my grandaughters passport, not issued yet despite numerous phone calls and e mails. Last week my daughter contacted local federal MP for assistance. As of today still no passport.

 

What a disgrace. I can understand Timboms frustration.

[Hogbay]

7 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Write to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, on line and explain your dilemma and the urgency.  At least that will get it moved up the line and common sense may prevail.  

I'm sorry you are being inconvenienced in this way.  

Unless your scott Morrison nothing will be done same as costs of living ,electricity price or inflation .

[MMDown Under]

10 hours ago, NSWP said:

The passport office in Canberra is in melt down. My daughter is due to fly out with her 16 yr old daughter to NZ on 5 Sept for a holiday, 16th birthday present. 3 months ago application etc went in for my grandaughters passport, not issued yet despite numerous phone calls and e mails. Last week my daughter contacted local federal MP for assistance. As of today still no passport.

 

What a disgrace. I can understand Timboms frustration.

Sorry to hear that your daughter is also being inconvenienced getting a passport for her daughter.  I agree the situation in the Passport Office is a disgrace.  Three months for a Passport should have been plenty of time.  Hopefully her Federal MP can assist getting your granddaughter a passport in time for her flight to NZ on 5/9.

[MMDown Under]

3 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Unless your scott Morrison nothing will be done same as costs of living ,electricity price or inflation .

Something can be done.  You just need to find an experienced Public Servant with common sense.  We're talking about a visit to Australia for three days by an elderly couple from the USA.  The husband got his visa immediately but the Passport Office needed more information from the wife, as she had a different name prior to her married name.  Most women have a different name prior to their married name.  This couple have been married 50 years!  This question should be changed for women to exclude their maiden name. To solve the problem, the husband has been advised to also apply for a normal visa, then a transit visa. What next?  Maybe someone with common sense will grant them an electronic visa.  Simple really!

 

[Hogbay]

35 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Something can be done.  You just need to find an experienced Public Servant with common sense.  We're talking about a visit to Australia for three days by an elderly couple from the USA.  The husband got his visa immediately but the Passport Office needed more information from the wife, as she had a different name prior to her married name.  Most women have a different name prior to their married name.  This couple have been married 50 years!  This question should be changed for women to exclude their maiden name. To solve the problem, the husband has been advised to also apply for a normal visa, then a transit visa. What next?  Maybe someone with common sense will grant them an electronic visa.  Simple really!

 

Simple indeed all you have to do is have legal documentation of whom you are from DOB . NOTHING about how long you are married .

[MMDown Under]

10 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Simple indeed all you have to do is have legal documentation of whom you are from DOB . NOTHING about how long you are married .

I only mentioned how long this elderly couple have been married as empathy for the situation they find themselves in,  

 

 

[Hogbay]

I'm so glad that our Australian Government is doing due diligence in checking properly the identity of all persons who enter Australia . US has similar regulations and its common sense to check visa requirements for travel at the time of booking not weeks before travelling.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

Something can be done.  You just need to find an experienced Public Servant with common sense.  We're talking about a visit to Australia for three days by an elderly couple from the USA.  The husband got his visa immediately but the Passport Office needed more information from the wife, as she had a different name prior to her married name.  Most women have a different name prior to their married name.  This couple have been married 50 years!  This question should be changed for women to exclude their maiden name. To solve the problem, the husband has been advised to also apply for a normal visa, then a transit visa. What next?  Maybe someone with common sense will grant them an electronic visa.  Simple really!

 

That is a common sense approach, and I think that occurs routinely already, but the general processing staff don't have that discretion. They can be escalated to be resolved, but that takes time. There are close to a million visas of various types that are in the queue, so finding someone to manually clear individual cases is going to be challenging.

 

But yes, for something a simple as ETA, if you already have a passport with your current name, it has been provided via identity checks in the first place, or has it? I would have thought that a proof of name change would be required earlier to get a passport issued.

[NSWP]

A Parliamentary Enquiry into the Australian Passport Office is required. Not enough people in the office to do the work, too many snowflakes at home pretending to work. My theory anyway, what other reason could there be?

 

My daughter has been waiting 3 months for her daughters passport to issue and she is due to fly out to NZ on 5 Sept. If no passport received, she will probably lose $5000 in prepaid airfares x 2 and hotels, car hire etc. She doubts travel insurance will pay up if she cannot go.  Absolute disgrace.

[valantine80]

6 hours ago, NSWP said:

A Parliamentary Enquiry into the Australian Passport Office is required. Not enough people in the office to do the work, too many snowflakes at home pretending to work. My theory anyway, what other reason could there be?

 

My daughter has been waiting 3 months for her daughters passport to issue and she is due to fly out to NZ on 5 Sept. If no passport received, she will probably lose $5000 in prepaid airfares x 2 and hotels, car hire etc. She doubts travel insurance will pay up if she cannot go.  Absolute disgrace.

 

A Current Affair on Fri night showed a couple from the Gold Coast in a similar situation waiting for their teenage children to get passports to go to Fiji for their wedding. They fronted up to the passport office in Brisbane and after some discussion told staff that a crew from A Current Affair was waiting downstairs. They were then told to wait for ab bit and suddenly the passports materialised. Not sure how that was possible.

Fingers crossed that the passport for your granddaughter will arrive in time. Very stressful.

[arxcards]

At least at our end, we can pay extra for an expedited passport, or queue all day at the passport office to get that done. Neither are an option for our friends overseas awaiting for their ETA's or visas to be processed.

[NSWP]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

At least at our end, we can pay extra for an expedited passport, or queue all day at the passport office to get that done. Neither are an option for our friends overseas awaiting for their ETA's or visas to be processed.

My son said he has recently seen people camping out all night outside the passport office in Sydney.  Batemans Bay people have to get theirs from Canberra.

[timbom]

Perhaps its a money grab on part of your homeland security.  Received the following on our cruise board.  Filed this application a couple of days ago so will keep my fingers crossed  

 

I have been in the same situation to complete the Australian visa application. I struggled for 3 days to fill out the ETA via Australian visa apps. The application is finally accepted and they collected 40 ADL (for 2 peoples). After about 1 hour of submitting the ETA , they approved my wife but mine is needed more informations and after I read many times their email to fulfill their requirement and learn that I have to complete form 154 for sub 601 application and I have to open an account with Immi to have new process. I could not download the form 154 to fill in the details unless I print it out , fill out, and mail it to them. I run to the Australian consulate in Houston to ask for help and learn that no Australian consulate in the whole USA can do the Visa. I ran out of option and I read their email again and find out that there is another application called sub 600. I filled out this application and paid 152.50 ADL (about 105 usd). After 5 days they granted my visa . 

I have been in Australia at least 2 times and never have any problems to apply visa on line but this time I give up the process of the ETA and never understand why the Australian consulate can not help to process tourist visa for USA citizen.

I wish you good luck in finding the ways to obtain your tourist visa . Please do not give it up. 

 

 

•  

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, timbom said:

Perhaps its a money grab on part of your homeland security.  Received the following on our cruise board.  Filed this application a couple of days ago so will keep my fingers crossed  

 

 

I have been in the same situation to complete the Australian visa application. I struggled for 3 days to fill out the ETA via Australian visa apps. The application is finally accepted and they collected 40 ADL (for 2 peoples). After about 1 hour of submitting the ETA , they approved my wife but mine is needed more informations and after I read many times their email to fulfill their requirement and learn that I have to complete form 154 for sub 601 application and I have to open an account with Immi to have new process. I could not download the form 154 to fill in the details unless I print it out , fill out, and mail it to them. I run to the Australian consulate in Houston to ask for help and learn that no Australian consulate in the whole USA can do the Visa. I ran out of option and I read their email again and find out that there is another application called sub 600. I filled out this application and paid 152.50 ADL (about 105 usd). After 5 days they granted my visa . 

I have been in Australia at least 2 times and never have any problems to apply visa on line but this time I give up the process of the ETA and never understand why the Australian consulate can not help to process tourist visa for USA citizen.

I wish you good luck in finding the ways to obtain your tourist visa . Please do not give it up. 

 

 

 

•  

Not a money grab. As with your US ESTA, if you can meet certain criteria, you can apply for a visa waiver (ETA, ESTA etc) with a nominal administration charge. If you can't meet the criteria, you need to apply for an appropriate visa. 

 

I agree that for many holiday travellers, the criteria is onerous. If I was unable to meet the criteria for a US ESTA, I would also need to pay more for the relevant US visa.

 

Good luck.

[Docker123]

Interesting reading on the State Dept site about Australians who do not qualify for an electronic visa.

 

Wait time for an interview — 300 days.

 

It advises to apply early.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Docker123

[NSWP]

13 hours ago, Docker123 said:

Interesting reading on the State Dept site about Australians who do not qualify for an electronic visa.

 

Wait time for an interview — 300 days.

 

It advises to apply early.

That won't make our American friends happy. I note several booked on the Transpacific ships in the next month or so are freaking out re the above. Don't blame them. It is a disgrace the system. My daughter stil has not received her daughters passport, waited 3 months and due to fly out to NZ on Monday. Looks like that is a $5000 loss, flights, accomm,, car hire.

 

I told my daughter to send the bill to Albanese @ Fawlty Towers, Canberra.

Edited August 30, 2022 by NSWP

[vozzie]

Sometimes, the full story is not detailed on these sites. As someone mentioned...if you fill out the form correctly and your details are all in line with the requirements, you  normally get an ETA (both Australian and USA ones) almost instantaneously. If your details are not within the parametres....there will be extra tasks to complete....e.g. if passport or a supporting document in maiden, or different name. The over-riding advice is....get in early!

[MMDown Under]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

That won't make our American friends happy. I note several booked on the Transpacific ships in the next month or so are freaking out re the above. Don't blame them. It is a disgrace the system. My daughter stil has not received her daughters passport, waited 3 months and due to fly out to NZ on Monday. Looks like that is a $5000 loss, flights, accomm,, car hire.

 

I told my daughter to send the bill to Albanese @ Fawlty Towers, Canberra.

Suggest your daughter send an urgent on line email to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, advising her situation re needing a passport for her daughter prior to Monday, when they are booked to fly to NZ.  I would also send a copy to her Federal Member of Parliament.  

[NSWP]

7 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

Suggest your daughter send an urgent on line email to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, advising her situation re needing a passport for her daughter prior to Monday, when they are booked to fly to NZ.  I would also send a copy to her Federal Member of Parliament.  

She has been to see her Federal Member who said she would endeavour to have it expedited, that was two weeks ago. Sent E mails, made phone calls. Pathetic. Now the 16 yr old grandaughter who is fragile anyway is heartbroken about missing the NZ birthday trip.

 

Thank you for your concern young Marion.

Edited August 31, 2022 by NSWP

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, NSWP said:

She has been to see her Federal Member who said she would endeavour to have it expedited, that was two weeks ago. Sent E mails, made phone calls. Pathetic. Now the 16 yr old grandaughter who is fragile anyway is heartbroken about missing the NZ birthday trip.

I understand how your 16 year old granddaughter must be feeling, plus her mother, which is why your daughter should email the PM to expedite her passport.  

[broberts]

 

 

On 8/26/2022 at 5:23 PM, timbom said:

Have been going thru hell to collect a visa to enter Australia.  Over two weeks ago I filled out an electronic Visa application for entry into Australia.  Within a couple of hours I had mine granted and my wife's came back as pending requesting additional information.  Some of the stuff they wanted was crazy like wanting a copy of her marriage cert. (because she had another name before we were married);  We recently celebrated or 50th and could not find it so we sent in a copy of the church cert.  We packed all of that up and sent it in that day. Have heard nothing since other than they received it.

 

Last week I talked with the passport office in Australia and they suggested we could apply for a normal visa which we did over a week ago.  This week I again discussed this with them and they suggested we reapply for in transit visa for her as we are only staying in Australia for thee days (this visa application was really crazy and took hours to enter data on).  They will not give me any information on the visa other than it has been received.

 

Hopefully I will hear something back next week on one of these applications and not have to cancel my trip (costing me thousands) which is leaving Seattle Tue 6 September as Carnival has told me I can not get on ship without a visa. 

 

Am I the only one having these type of problems getting a visa?? 

 

 

 

Are you able to get a certified copy of your marriage certificate from the jurisdiction in which you were married?