A few hours from now, I will be flying to Sydney & Brisbane, Australia for a week long trip with my college friends. It will be my first trip to this country & also my first trip outside Asia. Right before I leave, I want to share with everyone how I applied for my Australian Tourist Visa & also to share some tips regarding the visa application process.
Philippine passport holders are required to secure a visa before flying to Australia. The country’s Department of Home Affairs offers a wide range of visas a visitor can apply for. For this specific post, I will talk about how I applied for the Visitor Visa Subclass 600. Filipinos need this visa to visit Australia as a tourist, to visit relatives living in the country & to engage in business visitor activities. This visa allows visitors to stay up to 3, 6 or even 12 months.
More details about the Visitor Visa Subclass 600 from the AU Gov’t website
If you are unsure of what visa you need for your visit to Australia, head over to this page to see the list of visas one can apply for.
Unlike any other usual visa, Australian visas are applied online via the Department of Home Affairs website. This means that you don’t need to go to a travel agency to submit your requirements or go to the embassy to line up & lodge your documents. Everything is done online. Let me now tell you what I did & what you need to do to get your Australian tourist visa.
Step 1 – Create An Immi Account
The first step is to create an Immi Account. This is your account in the Australian government’s immigration portal. The visa application process will be through this portal. All you need is a working email address & a password (must include an upper case & a lower case letter, a number & a symbol). You will receive an email notifying that you have successfully created your account plus you need to verify it with the link provided in your email.
First step – create an Immi Account
Step 2 – Start The Application & Fill Out The Form
After creating your Immi Account, you should now start your application. The website will ask you to fill out about 20 pages of questions – mainly asking for personal details, travel plans, family & travel background. Not that you can stop & save your details at any time. Please do not submit your application until all questions are answered & all documents are uploaded. Take note of your visa reference number throughout the application process.
Step 3 – Prepare & Gather Documents
Before uploading your documents in the immigration portal. You first need to gather the documents you need to submit. The portal divides the documents into 2 parts – the required documents (passport details, passport photo, travel history & financial documents) & the recommended documents (ticket & hostel bookings, evidence of family composition). You can submit the following ‘usual’ visa application requirements:
⦁ Philippine Passport – Your passport must be valid for more than 6 months during your trip.
⦁ Passport-Size Photo (Front & Back – with Full Name at the back)
⦁ Travel History (Old & Current Passports)
⦁ Personal Bank Certificate
⦁ Personal Bank Statement (3 months recommended)
⦁ Certificate of Employment & Income Tax Return Form
⦁ Payslips & Company ID Details
⦁ NSO Birth Certificate
⦁ Confirmed Airline Ticket
⦁ Itinerary in Australia (Day to day plans when in Australia)
You can add more documents such as evidence of leave from work, marriage certificate (for those who are married), cover letter, title deeds, credit card statements & anything that will prove your financial capabilities & your strong ties here in the Philippines.
The Department of Home Affairs doesn’t specify any requirement (amount balance, average daily balance, etc.) on bank statements & bank certificates. Make sure to have enough money in your accounts before having your papers printed.
Step 4 – Scan & Upload Documents
You always start by logging in to your Immi Account
After gathering all the requirements & documents, you need to scan & upload them in the application portal. As per the Home Affairs website, only files with these extensions are accepted: bmp, dcm, doc, docx, dot, gif, jpg, pdf, png, ppt, pptx, rtf, txt, xls & xlsx. Each file should not exceed 5 MB & should not be compressed & encrypted. Documents which are not in English need to be translated into the English Language. Each applicant can upload up to 60 documents.
You can upload your documents by batch; just don’t forget to save your application before you close the page. An application is stored in the portal for 30 days. All incomplete applications & uploaded documents will be deleted after the prescribed time.
Step 5 – Submit Application & Pay Application Fee
After completing the 20-page application form & uploading the necessary requirements & documents, you can now formally submit your visa application. After submission, you will be directed to the payment page where you need to pay the visa application fee of AUD 140 per person [2024 update – visa application fee has increased to AUD 190 per person]. Only PayPal, credit & debit card form of payments are accepted. These modes of payments also have surcharges. You can refer to this page for the updated surcharges for all types of payments.
After payment, you will receive an acknowledgement email confirming that your visa application has been submitted and that your biometrics need to be collected in the visa collection center.
[2024 Update] Step 5.5 – Biometrics Collection
Since the pandemic, the Department of Home Affairs has required all visa applicants to have their biometrics collected within two weeks of online visa application submission.
The VFS Global Australian Visa Collection Centre in Manila is located at 6th Floor, Tower Two, Makati Circuit Corporate Center, AP Reyes Street and Theater Drive, Circuit Makati, Barangay Carmona, Makati City, Philippines 1630.
Biometrics collection appointments can be scheduled here. Applicants need to bring the documents mentioned in the biometrics email request and the biometrics collection service fee of PHP 557. The center only accepts cash payments as of this writing.
The waiting game begins after biometrics collection.
Step 6 – Wait For Your Visa
Visa application processing times vary per person. As per the Australian government website & as of 30 June 2018, 75% of all the tourist visa applications are processed after 19 days while 90% of tourist visa applications are decided after 24 days. Take note that your visa application can be decided sometime between 48 hours from application to more than 20 days depending on internal factors.
I got my Australian Tourist Visa after 8 calendar days. I can very well remember I was on the boat back to Siargao Island when I got my Visa Grant Notification via email. The Australian government granted me a 1-year multiple entry tourist visa. This visa allows me to stay in Australia for 3 months from the date of each arrival.
Bear in mind that Australian Visas are not glued to your passports. It’s simply a grant letter which you will show upon check-in & in the immigration counter. How does the grant letter look like? Check out my grant letter below:
Have you applied for an Australian Tourist Visa in the past? Are there other tips you can share to your fellow readers? Feel free to post these tips below. If you want to be anonymous, you can send it via email to contact@thewkndtravel.com for suggestions. Feel free to also contact me via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
That’s it for now. I need to go & pack my things for my Australia trip. Thank you for reading & until the next Tuesday Tip! 😊