OZ Chronicles: Getting Australian Tourist Visa

So it took ages again for me to come back. By ages I mean, after crazy nine months of ups and downs, tears and joy, long distance love and adventure. Actually after another overseas adventure, that is! Well, by saying though it will throw us back to June when I spent some worthwhile time in Australia – which for the record was my first and longest holiday yet outside Asia.

After my return from a work assignment in Singapore last year, we both started praying about my visa application. The whole process itself was simple; nevertheless the long wait for the result wasn’t just a typical piece of cake. What it reads from online forums and travel blogs about the visa processing made me anticipate it being a tough hurdle to start with. And in my pursuit of giving back the favor to those who generously guided me in doing the application, I tried to chronicle below the steps I went through to finally bring our Oz dream to reality.

Although there are some who personally lodge their visa application at the embassy itself, I chose to do everything online via ImmiAccount which was pretty convenient. 

(Credit to the ImmiAccount login site)

Applicant must create their own profile and make an application. After which he will be introduced to the Application Context page where basic information will have to be provided.

• Purpose of stay
• Group processing (NA if applicant is a solo traveler)
• Special category of entry (NA if not foreign government representative)
• Applicant details
• passport, birth, civil status
• national identity documents
• health examination inquiry if taken for an Australian visa in the last 12 months
• Critical data information
• Additional identity questions
• Travel companions
• Contact details
• Authorized recipient for visa application correspondence
• Entry to Autralia
• Proposed period of stay
• Entry type (if single or multiple)
• Reason of stay
• Sponsor details (if staying with a friend, family or relative)
• Funding for applicant's stay
• Health declaration (pertaining to overseas travel of more than 3 consecutive months)
• Character declaration
• Supporting evidence

Above points are easy to fill out but I’d like to give more emphasis to that last portion – Supporting evidence – on which it honestly took some time gathering all that I needed to submit. Below is the list of what I only provided:

• Evidence of Personal Financial Capacity
• Bank certificate of payroll account
• Certificate of Compensation Payment/Tax Withheld (BIR Form 2316)
• Latest fully paid credit card statement
• Payslips for the last six months
• Evidence of Birth
• Evidence of Current Employment
• Certificate of Employment
• Approved Vacation Leave
• Letter from the employer stating intention to return
• Evidence of Travel History
• Entry/exit stamped pages of the current passport
• Entry/exit stamped pages of the expired passport
• Previous overseas working visa
• Travel Document (passport)
• Evidence of Personal Assets (from the sponsor where I stayed)
• Residential Unit Purchase Contract
• Evidence of Invitation
• Invitation letter from sponsor
• Valid identification documents of the sponsor
• Detailed itinerary of the holiday
• Photograph
• Passport photo
• Other related photos

From memory, it took me a month to finally complete the above requirements. Not that they were difficult to gather but more on organizing things like making the financial capacity more evident to provide for myself during the holiday, waiting for documents from the office and from the sponsor. After everything was set, I hit the send button and that’s when the agonizing days of waiting began.

They are keen to let the applicant know that the normal period of visa grant will take some 30 working days or more from the date of lodgement itself. Well the anxiety for some will be worse because it would also take that long to know whether the application is granted or not. It took 34 days to get mine and more days of prayers and patience than that. But as true as the saying goes, there is always joy in waiting. 

Posted in: Australia,happy pill,itchy feet