Visa stickers from London

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Just wondering if anyone went in person to get their visa stickers in their passports - do you need an appointment at Australia House, or just rock up? We are planning on getting ours done when we are down in London anyway and at a loose end in a couple of weeks, but it just struck me if we just rock up and need an appointment it will be a wasted journey to AH etc.

 

Cheers

[Ging]

Hi, we did ours in person and I did phone before hand, they only open for a couple of hours (9-11am), entrance is down the left hand side and only one person is allowed though main door at a time, once inside all very straight forward, having them in passport worked well at the airport getting our 40kg allowences

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

So did you actually book, or can you just turn up? We don't know exactly what day we will be able to go you see, we are there for a couple of days...

[Ging]

Yes I booked

[Guest vikkiann]

We just turned up. Get there early though. x

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Cheers guys

[Guest AlisonCarlton]

Our visa came through last September and the lady told us that it had been done electronically and when we check in at the airport the visa would show up on the passport. Starting to worry after seeing people talking about getting stickers in their passports. Can anyone help?

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

You don't *need* to have the sticker put in your passport but we are for the following reasons:

 

1) - (Most importantly) We want to have a shiny thing inside our passports (I had a visa for NZ, and it was lovely imho having the massive sticker inside my passport to look back on etc.)

2) Apparently its good to have the actual one as a back up for places instead of showing your grant letter, like for medicare, when renting a house, getting driver's license etc.

 

As far as I'm aware the only thing I've heard of they you *need* the sticker in your passport, and not just your grant letter, has been in NSW upon exchanging a driver's license, but its not been extensive research really, as we always knew we wanted to get the sticker in our passports (plus we are going to be in London anyway).

 

It does show up on the screen when you get to the airport - they have to ensure you have the right to enter Australia, or they get charged for sending you back if you don't, so if you didn't have any kind of visa, they wouldn't let you check in (ie if you didn't even have a tourist e visa sorted out), its all electronic and joined up nowadays, so don't panic, you'll be on there and allowed on the plane and into Oz

[Guest AlisonCarlton]

Thanks for that!! I also like the idea of having a 'shiny' thing in my passport and as we live on the outskirts of London it would be quite easy to go up to Australia House.

[aliogilvie]

Thanks for that!! I also like the idea of having a 'shiny' thing in my passport and as we live on the outskirts of London it would be quite easy to go up to Australia House.

 

Me too, fingers crossed we will get our visa soon and I think we will indeed make the trip to Australia House at some point to get the physical evidence, I want it in my passport for nostalgia.

[Guest jadunlop]

Can you send them by post to be done? We are oing in 7 weeks but won't be able to get down there.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Can you send them by post to be done? We are oing in 7 weeks but won't be able to get down there.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

Yes, that's what they say you should do if you want the sticker (phoned them today and they got quite stroppy with me), the details will be with your grant letter bumpf, it should be recorded delivery down there and they send it back recorded delivery (you need to send a pre-paid envelope etc).

 

For anyone else wanting to know about visa stickers - phoned today, was told you can go along, however the guy put up quite a fight about it and told me it really was only for the most urgent cases to be seen in person - but that if you do want to go along you can't book, you just turn up between 9am-11am in the morning at Australia House on the Strand. They prefer you to a) not get the sticker at all but b)if you do, to do it by post. Or c) ignore them and turn up on spec lol.

[jimmyskinner]

We got ours when we got here it took 10 minutes. Its all electronic anyway and our qantas tickets said on them 40kg baggage.

[Guest jadunlop]

I don't want to sound silly but does anyone know how long it takes by post? I mean we are leaving in middle of march and it is still roughly 7 weeks away but do they do it straight away?

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

We got ours when we got here it took 10 minutes. Its all electronic anyway and our qantas tickets said on them 40kg baggage.

 

Yes, its electronic, but its nice to have the sticker before you go lol (if you're in London anyway etc, its not a huge hassle was our thinking - will let peeps know how hassley it is next week )

 

I don't want to sound silly but does anyone know how long it takes by post? I mean we are leaving in middle of march and it is still roughly 7 weeks away but do they do it straight away?

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

Think it should be back with you within a week, max. 2 apparently, so you should be fine, or you can just wait and get them put in once you are in Oz as well.

[Guest jadunlop]

Sent the passports last Monday and got them back on the Friday. About £5 each way using special delivery. Think it is worth it for piece of mind and showing when trying to get a rental. Now just need to get something from my employer to show too.

[Guest Adelaide_bound]

Thought I'd report back as well (sorry, head all over the place!) - we got there at about 9.15am, there were 2 other people waiting, both just wanting general visa advice, which they were given (who needs a migration agent?) and eventually we were seen at about 10.15am, the chap was lovely and very helpful, took a few minutes to print them off and put them in our passports.

 

Getting in the building is fun, lots of looking in bags, walking through a metal detector (that bleeps and then you are told to go in anyway lol), but its easy to find and they are all very pleasant about it. Its very small, both the entrance room and the actual room where they have the counter, so don't take the whole family along if you don't need to, I can imagine small children running around would get a few dirty looks (from other people rather than Oz House people I hasten to add lol).

 

All very simple, hubby is very underwhelmed by the stickers, I think they are lovely (not as nice as NZ - less silver foily bits and shiny stripes - but still very lovely). Hurrah!

[Guest alex27]

Hi,

I thought we needed visa stickers as well and was in a bit of a panic. I called the high commission in London and they said not to worry, all electronic. When we arrived in Australia the immigration officer didn't ask us anything, apart from where we were staying and then proceeded to give us restaurant tips. He wasn't interested in our grant letter or anything. It was the most laid-back experience I have ever had entering a country-nothing like when we go through Heathrow-even on a Canadian passport!