- Do I need a visa?
Are you travelling to Australia? Then you need to apply for an Australia visa. This also applies to EU and UK tourists and business travellers, including minors.
Only the following travellers are exempted and do not need a visa:
• Travellers with an Australian passport
• Travellers with a New Zealand passport
• Travellers with an APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC)
Transfers in Australia are only allowed without a visa if you meet these requirements:
• You do not leave the airport in Australia in between
• You stay less than eight hours at the airport
• You already have a ticket and all other necessary travel documents for the onward flight
• Your airline will transfer your checked baggage without your intervention
• You are a national of a country in the EU, Switzerland or the United Kingdom
- Which visa type do I apply for?
The eVisitor visa Australia
Are you travelling to Australia for a holiday or business trip? Then you can make use of the eVisitor visa. This type of visa for Australia is the cheapest, easiest and fastest to apply for. Check whether you meet the requirements for this visa and submit your application online.
Apply for the eVisitor visa Australia now
The eVisitor visa is the most applied for Australia visa type. Any reference on this website to the "Australia visa" refers to the eVisitor visa, unless expressly stated otherwise.
ETA Australia
The ETA Australia is very similar to the eVisitor visa, but the ETA is intended for travellers who are nationals of Andorra, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States of America. They cannot apply for an eVisitor visa. The same applies to travellers who have the nationality of the United Kingdom if their passport states: British National Overseas or British Overseas Citizen.
Do you have the nationality of the United Kingdom, Ireland, another country in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Vatican City, the United Kingdom or Switzerland? Then apply for an eVisitor visa, not an ETA. The validity period and requirements of the ETA and the eVisitor visa are the same. However, applying for an ETA Australia is more expensive than applying for an eVisitor visa.
Other visa types
Do you want to stay in Australia for longer than three months? Or do you not meet the requirements for an eVisitor visa, for example because you want to work in Australia? Then apply for another visa type, such as the Working Holiday Visa Australia.
Some visa types have a rather long processing time. Are you waiting for a work visa or another visa type with a long processing time? Do not apply for an eVisitor visa or ETA in order to travel to Australia. Doing so will overwrite the current application, and you may lose a lot of time and money.
- How long does the Australia visa last?
Period of validity and maximum stay
The validity period of the eVisitor Australia visa is 12 months. This period starts as soon as your application has been approved. From that moment on, you may travel to Australia an unlimited number of times, so long as each arrival is within the validity period of the visa. Each stay in Australia may last up to three months. Even if you arrive on the last day your visa is valid, you may stay in Australia for up to three months.
Validity of your passport
Keep the validity of your passport in mind as well. Your passport must be valid for at least 6 more months from the date of arrival in Australia. Is this not the case? Then apply for a new passport. If you acquire a new passport, you must also apply for an Australia visa (again) before you can travel. This is because the visa can only be used in combination with the passport with which it was applied for.
Maximum stay if you go on a cruise
Are you going to be on board a cruise ship in Australia? If you dock in Australia again later as part of the same cruise trip, the maximum duration of stay will continue to run from the previous arrival. For example, you arrive in Australia on 1 January by plane. You leave Australia on 1 February by cruise ship. On 1 March, you arrive in Australia again by cruise ship. You may not stay in Australia for another three months. You must leave Australia within 3 months of your previous arrival, so before 1 April.
If you breach the law or the visa requirements
Did you breach the visa requirements or other Australian laws? Then the Australian authorities can revoke the validity of your visa, forcing you to leave the country immediately.
Do you want to stay in Australia longer than three months?
Then it is not possible to apply for your Australia visa through JBVisas.com.
- What can I do during my stay in Australia?
You may travel to Australia with the eVisitor visa for tourism and business. Visiting friends or family in Australia is also permitted.
You can also study or take training courses in Australia, but only if they do not last longer than 3 months in total. Nor if it concerns a medical education or training, such as for doctors, dentists, nurses, paramedics and childcare workers.
Are you travelling to Australia for work? Then take into account these requirements:
• You may attend meetings, conferences, trade fairs and seminars
• You may visit (potential) business partners, negotiate and enter into agreements
• You may carry out activities as part of an official state visit
• You may not provide or sell services or products to consumers in Australia
• You may not provide services to or join a company or organisation in Australia
• Your work must not be paid for by a company, organisation or consumer in Australia
Volunteering in Australia is only permitted if all these requirements are met:
• The main reason for your trip is tourism, the volunteering is secondary to that
• You volunteer only once in Australia and only for a short period of time
• You will receive at most an allowance in the form of board and lodging, pocket money or living expenses
• You will not be doing work that would otherwise be done by a paid Australian resident
• You will only be volunteering for a non-profit organisation
• Your volunteer work will contribute to the Australian community
Do you want to stay in Australia for a longer period of time and also do paid work there? Check if you qualify for a Working Holiday or Work and Holiday visa.
- What requirements do I have to meet?
Basic requirements for the eVisitor visa Australia:
• You are travelling for a holiday, business, study, volunteer work or to visit friends and family
• You arrive in Australia by plane or (cruise) ship
• You are not travelling to Australia before your visa has been approved
• You and your family members are not in debt to the Australian government
• You have sufficient financial resources to pay for your stay and return trip
Your health
Your physical and mental health must not pose a risk to the people of Australia. This means you must not be a threat to the public health of Australia, and you must not be a danger to Australian society. Therefore, you cannot travel to Australia if you have tuberculosis. If you are expected to make use of public healthcare or social services in Australia which may result in costs exceeding AUD 49,000.00 or in longer waiting times for residents of Australia for limited capacity care, such as organ transplants or dialysis, you likewise cannot travel to Australia.
Are you unsure whether you meet these requirements? Before applying for your visa, have an official health check carried out by a doctor associated with the Australian immigration service. If the immigration service suspects, based on your application, that there are risks involved, this health check may also be required.
Are you pregnant and is there a chance that you will give birth in Australia? Then you cannot apply for an eVisitor visa. You must then apply for a visitor visa (subclass 600) and have a health check carried out by a designated doctor before departure to exclude the risk of hepatitis B.
You are responsible for the cost of healthcare during your stay in Australia. The cost of medical treatment in Australia can be higher than in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Check before you leave whether you are insured for this via your health insurance or travel insurance. Also check for reimbursement for specialist treatment, private healthcare facilities, ambulance services and dentistry.
Are you a resident of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Ireland, Slovenia, or Sweden? Then you can apply for a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) free of charge before departure. This will enable you to register for the Medicare programme in Australia. After you have applied, your healthcare costs will be paid directly by your health insurance company, and you will not have to pay for them in advance.
Your character
Only travellers of good character are eligible for a visa to Australia. You may not apply for an eVisitor visa Australia if there is an increased risk that you will:
• engage in criminal behaviour,
• be a danger to the Australian community,
• harass, abuse, intimidate or stalk another person,
• defame any part of the Australian community,
• seek to divide the Australian community
• cause domestic/family violence
You also do not meet the requirements for an Australia visa in the following situations:
• You have received a prison sentence totalling more than 12 months (served or not)
• You have at some point escaped from prison
• You have at some point been sentenced for domestic violence or child sexual abuse
• Your name appears on an Interpol list of persons who may pose a risk
• You are or have been involved with a person, organisation or group which is likely to be involved in criminal behaviour
• You are or have been involved in smuggling, trafficking, genocide, a war crime, a crime against humanity, a crime relating to torture or slavery, or a crime of international concern, irrespective of whether you have been convicted of such a crime
I meet the requirements and want to apply for my visa
More information about this subject can be found on the pages about the requirements of the Australia visa and the validity duration of the Australia visa.
- What requirements does my passport have to meet?
You and all your fellow travellers must have your own passport that is valid for at least 6 more months from the day you arrive in Australia. This must be the same passport that was used to apply for the visa. Does your passport not have sufficient remaining validity? First apply for a new passport, then use that new passport to apply for a (new) visa.
In addition to normal passports, emergency passports and children’s passports are also accepted. Do you not have a passport? Then you do not meet the requirements. You cannot apply for an Australia visa with a refugee travel document, residence permit, identity card or other type of identity document.
Your passport must state that you are a citizen of the United Kingdom, Ireland, another country in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Vatican City or Switzerland.
Does your passport say: British National Overseas, British Dependent Territories Citizen, British Overseas Citizen, British Protected Person or British Subject? If so, you cannot use the Australia eVisitor visa.
Do you (also) have Australian nationality? If so, you cannot apply for a visa. Even if your Australian nationality is your second nationality, you cannot apply for a visa for Australia with a passport of your other nationality. Take your Australian passport with you when you travel.
- Do I still need to take the coronavirus into account?
The coronavirus measures have been changed a lot over time. That is why it is highly recommended to check the page with recent measures against Covid-19 in Australia, well before departure, and right before departure.
All you need to know about the coronavirus in Australia