There are multiple reasons why you need to visit Australia; there are many things you can find in this country, from the best activities to pleasant weather all year round. The country reopened its borders amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and has relaxed many travel restrictions. There is no better time for you to visit Australia than now.
If you are planning to visit Australia, you need to plan your trip in advance. You can make use of a visa 601 or an Electronic Travel Authority to enter Australia. You need to apply for this visa before you enter Australia. In this blog, you will learn the complete step-by-step process of applying for the Australian ETA visa.
The ETA or Electronic Travel Authority is an authorized electronically-stored document that will be linked to your passport number. In simple words, you can call it an electronic visa. If you want to enter Australia for tourism purposes, you need to acquire this specific visa.
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The subclass 601 or Australian ETA can allow you to do the following in Australia:
You can visit different parts of Australia for business visits or tourism as an ETA holder.
You can travel to Australia as often as you want when you hold this visa. You will get one year or time or until the passport’s validity.
As a holder of this visa, you can stay in Australia for up to three months for each visit.
For a successful visa application, you need to fulfil the following criteria:
You must hold an eligible and valid passport
You need to have an email address to receive your visa
You need to meet the Australian health and character requirements as a foreign visitor to this country
You must have a debit or credit card to pay the ETA visa fees.
The steps to apply for an ETA 601 visa are as follows:
Due to the ongoing pandemic and border lockdowns worldwide, most people did not travel for a couple of years. This is why before applying for the ETA, you must ensure that your passport is eligible and valid. It is good for you that Australia does not practice the 6-month passport validity rule.
This indicates that your passport will be considered valid from the date it is issued till the expiry date. But you should opt to renew your passport if your passport is valid for less than six months. If you are unsure of how to renew your passport online, you can take the help of an agent or take the help of a visa agent in Perth or head to the immigration office.
Most of the time, applications for the ETA are only found via the Australian ETA application. You will be able to find this online application in the APP store or Google Play Store. An eligible passport holder can apply on their mobile devices as long as they fulfil the following requirements:
Your mobile device needs to have a functional camera
Your mobile device needs to be NFC-enabled
Your mobile device needs to enable location services.
You must scan your passport.
You must ensure that you have your passport ready when applying for the ETA Subclass 601. In the step of this visa application process, you need to add yourself as a new applicant and then scan for the biodata page of your passport.
You will be able to find this on the second page of your passport, and this will also include information like your date of birth, your name and your passport number. After this, the application will scan the passport chip that is in your passport. If there is NFC enabled on your mobile, you need to place it on the top of your passport and can scan the chip via the built-in reader.
The next step in applying for visitor visa 601 is to take a photo of yourself on the application. A verification step will look to ensure that the appropriate passport holder is applying for the visa. You also need to ensure that there is sufficient lighting so that your face can be seen properly and clearly when taking this photo.
After successfully registering yourself as a new visa applicant on the application, you can begin applying for a new ETA. After this, you will select your application profile and answer a few questions, including:
The ETA that is requested and your current location
Past criminal convictions and domestic violence offences
Contact details in Australia.
Pay the visa service fee.
The Visa Subclass 601 is free, but the visa application service fee can cost some dollars. You can also use credit and debit cards to carry out these transactions.
After you complete the payment, you can proceed to submit your visa application. In many cases, you will be notified of the result of your visa application the next day. But based on how you filled out the visa application, the application can take more time to process. Sometimes, the authorities need more information or documents from you.
If your visa application is not processed or approved without providing further information, you should not worry. You will be given a link that will take you to a web form that has proper questions and clearer directions. You will also need to explain the reason behind your activity and the list of companions and show that you have official documents with you, like an identity card and more.
Some tips for applying for an ETA are as follows:
Most Australian ETA applications are approved within a day of applying for the visa. In some cases, you might need to provide more information. Sometimes, this step can increase the time of application processing a little.
At specific times and circumstances, it takes even a month to get approval; this is why experts suggest that you apply early for this visa. You must apply at least one and a half years before your intended travel time.
The approval process for this visa cannot speed up before there is a genuine emergency reason. If your application gets rejected or delayed, it is said that you must finalize other travel arrangements after you have acquired the visa. You can contact Immigration consultants in Perth before you apply for this visa.
If you want to speed up the application process, you must prepare all the important documents in advance before you begin filing the visa application.
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If you want to apply for the ETA to travel to Australia, you need to fulfil all the requirements and criteria associated with the visa. You can contact ISA Migrations for the best Immigration agents in Perth. They can help you in different ways, from filling up the visa application form to informing recent changes in the visa.
