Australian visa information

If you're thinking of coming for a visit, you'll need to apply for a visa. Never too soon to start wading through this info to begin to collect your thoughts and questions. Our visas are due to expire in early August 2006, FYI. We are going into summer time now. In March, or thereabouts, the rainy and cold winter time will begin.

The immigration people have lots of rules.

One example that threw us for a loop was our attempt to stop over in New Zealand. The airport hot-shot check-in lad needed proof that we had a flight out of New Zealand before he would let us fly in. He could tell that we had Australian visas and they are good for travel in New Zealand as well. But, this lad had to see the ticket to guarantee that we would leave New Zealand. Well, we had E-tickets and hadn't packed the right paper proof of that ticket. He lamely tried to verify the ticket with Qantas, who lamely came back with no proof. You should have seen us scramble to find an internet connection with a printer in order to print out the confirmation numbers. Liz ended up being escorted into the VIP lounge by a very helpful, Air New Zealand gentleman, not-a-lad, and was able to convince the lad just minutes before our flight took off from L.A.

So, there's an example of checking all the details and fine print ahead of time.

I must say that the online application process was fairly easy to use and we got our visas within 4 - 6 weeks. When I say 'got our visas', don't think that we got a piece of paper, or a sticker for our passports. We got online confirmation and a number that could be verified at entry points.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Although, I'm no expert. This website has lots of info.