Anybody gone on a "visitors" visa whilst waiting for their 475 to be sorted?

[Guest cunnah10]

Has anybody gone out to Adelaide on a "visitors" visa whilst still waiting for their 475 to be sorted?

 

All sorts going through my head at the moment!

 

If we were "told" that our 475 visa application would take another 3 months plus then i'm wondering if this could be an option for us - Going out on a visitors visa until we got the 475 sorted but then believe we would have to hop over to Auckland for a week to be officially out of Australia before hopping back over again with our granted 475!

 

Anybody done this or know how it would work or am i just grasping at straws with my brain working overtime!

 

It is nearly 5am here in the UK and i have been wide awake for hours!

 

We sign our lovely house over to our new buyers later today which is pretty scary but i know how lucky we are to even have a buyer!

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

Things might have changed but when we applied you could only apply for one visa, so I would think its a no.

I am sure someone will know for sure later.

Good luck with the house later, where are you going to live?

sarah

[Guest Aussie pat]

Hi Gill,

 

Once you get confirmation of your visa you need to send off your passport for the visa to be physically entered into it. It could be messy from NZ and may take longer than you thought.

 

Fingers crossed that you'll get that much waited for visa in the very near future.

[Guest cunnah10]

Hi Gill,

 

Once you get confirmation of your visa you need to send off your passport for the visa to be physically entered into it. It could be messy from NZ and may take longer than you thought.

 

Fingers crossed that you'll get that much waited for visa in the very near future.

Thanks for your replies!

 

Went back to bed for a bit to give my rather tired brain a rest!

 

I guess it seems a lot of hassle and as you say could become rather messy taking this route so looks like we will just have to sit tight in hope of good news soon!!

[Guest TC for short]

We ended up having to come out on the Business ETA (Electronic Travel Authority; the on-line visa) due to foul-ups at the company/migration agent end. While it will get you into the country it won't allow work as such. However I had to do a conversion course and it seems you can "study" on this visa, and be paid whilst doing so. I also managed to obtain a Tax-File Number (TFN) on it.

 

It's all a bit ironic since I work for the Australian government! I would advise that you keep on top of whichever agent you're using. Mine, (appointed for me by my employers) despite being given a heads-up at 10 working days to run, didn't start filing for the next visa until the day before the ETA expired. There was lots of e-mailing & faxing late that night!

 

Something worth noting is that if you are in the country legally & applying for a visa which doesn't require being out of the country to be applied for, once the Immigration Dept has received your application you are allowed to stay until a decision has been reached.

 

Be careful not to infringe any restrictions though - you wouldn't want to queer your pitch with them! Just make sure if you do come out without a visa allowing work that you have access to enough funds to survive plus a reserve.

 

Best of luck!

 

TC

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill

 

LOTS of people do do exactly as you are considering doing. I would recommend obtaining a long stay subclass 676 tourist visa rather than a 90-day ETA though, in case of delays with the 475 processing and also so that you can make orderly, cost-effective plans for your trip offshore:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/index.htm

 

Auckland and Suva (Fiji) are the two most popular destinations from the East of Oz. Bali & Singapore are the ones used by people waiting in WA. The staff in all 4 are very familiar with the drills and all four have counter-service so that you can just walk in with your passports and wait whilst the visa labels are put into them.

 

It is not, in fact, compulsory to have visa labels put into your passports whilst you are offshore. DIAC would let you back in to Oz just on production of your passports and the visa grant letter but it is usual to get the visas evidenced - ie the labels put into the passports - whilst you are offshore because it avoids strife from the airlines.

 

If you opt to do this, and you intend to have the visas evidenced offshore, you really need to allow for 5 working days in either Fiji or NZ. The reason is because whenn the CO grants the visa, s/he has to send the evidencing information direct to the offshore DIAC office that you have nominated. The information goes from Adelaide to, say, Auckland via the DIAC mainframe in Canberra. Which only does uploads and downloads during the night -something to do with the bandwidth apparently so the info takes 48 hours to get from Adelaide to Auckland or wherever.

 

Sometimes the data-shifting goes wrong, so if the info is not in Auckland by Day Three, they have to contact the CO who has to send it again. However it is often cheaper to book a 5 or 10 night package holiday than to arrange independent travel anyway.

 

Ideally, you get to Oz with plenty of time in hand on your tourist visa so that you can deal with all the stuff like renting a house, enrolling with Medicare etc plus informing your CO of your arrival in Oz. When the CO is ready to grant your 475 visas, s/he will send you a "pre-grant letter" saying that your visa is ready but you need to go offshore. The CO needs your travel dates and itinerary and obviously it might take you a week or two to select the holiday or whatever, which might not be for another couple of months if you want to try to minimise costs.

 

Hence I would suggest ensuring that you have plenty of time on your side via a permitted stay of at least 6 months in Oz on the subclass 676 tourist visa.

 

Another common myth about the idea is that you need return tickets if you are travelling to Oz on a tourist visa. DIAC do NOT require this. All that DIAC require is evidence that you have sufficient funds to be able to buy a ticket for a destination that is outside of Australia. Singapore Airlines understand this even if their competitors don't. It is sometimes necessary to be ferocious with the airline about this.

 

But lots of people do it; that is not the issue. It is quite expensive, because Auckland is an expensive city to visit and the whole family has to make the journey. You could combine it with a week's touring and just go to Auckland for one day, though. I don't know about costs in Fiji.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Diane]

I don't know about costs in Fiji.

 

Gill

 

Can't add much to what Gill has said, except that we took two adults and two kids to Fiji for ten nights in January, flights, 4 star hotel, food and drink all included (including wine and beer) and it cost us just a little over $5000 in total. That's not each. That's in total. Bargain, I thought!! And it was lovely!

Diane

[Gollywobbler]

Can't add much to what Gill has said, except that we took two adults and two kids to Fiji for ten nights in January, flights, 4 star hotel, food and drink all included (including wine and beer) and it cost us just a little over $5000 in total. That's not each. That's in total. Bargain, I thought!! And it was lovely!

Diane

 

Hi Diane

 

Your trip sounds like The Business! Wish I had gone too! Was it straightforward at the DIAC office in Suva as well?

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Denise]

Hi Gill

 

LOTS of people do do exactly as you are considering doing. I would recommend obtaining a long stay subclass 676 tourist visa rather than a 90-day ETA though, in case of delays with the 475 processing and also so that you can make orderly, cost-effective plans for your trip offshore:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/index.htm

 

Auckland and Suva (Fiji) are the two most popular destinations from the East of Oz. Bali & Singapore are the ones used by people waiting in WA. The staff in all 4 are very familiar with the drills and all four have counter-service so that you can just walk in with your passports and wait whilst the visa labels are put into them.

 

It is not, in fact, compulsory to have visa labels put into your passports whilst you are offshore. DIAC would let you back in to Oz just on production of your passports and the visa grant letter but it is usual to get the visas evidenced - ie the labels put into the passports - whilst you are offshore because it avoids strife from the airlines.

 

If you opt to do this, and you intend to have the visas evidenced offshore, you really need to allow for 5 working days in either Fiji or NZ. The reason is because whenn the CO grants the visa, s/he has to send the evidencing information direct to the offshore DIAC office that you have nominated. The information goes from Adelaide to, say, Auckland via the DIAC mainframe in Canberra. Which only does uploads and downloads during the night -something to do with the bandwidth apparently so the info takes 48 hours to get from Adelaide to Auckland or wherever.

 

Sometimes the data-shifting goes wrong, so if the info is not in Auckland by Day Three, they have to contact the CO who has to send it again. However it is often cheaper to book a 5 or 10 night package holiday than to arrange independent travel anyway.

 

Ideally, you get to Oz with plenty of time in hand on your tourist visa so that you can deal with all the stuff like renting a house, enrolling with Medicare etc plus informing your CO of your arrival in Oz. When the CO is ready to grant your 475 visas, s/he will send you a "pre-grant letter" saying that your visa is ready but you need to go offshore. The CO needs your travel dates and itinerary and obviously it might take you a week or two to select the holiday or whatever, which might not be for another couple of months if you want to try to minimise costs.

 

Hence I would suggest ensuring that you have plenty of time on your side via a permitted stay of at least 6 months in Oz on the subclass 676 tourist visa.

 

Another common myth about the idea is that you need return tickets if you are travelling to Oz on a tourist visa. DIAC do NOT require this. All that DIAC require is evidence that you have sufficient funds to be able to buy a ticket for a destination that is outside of Australia. Singapore Airlines understand this even if their competitors don't. It is sometimes necessary to be ferocious with the airline about this.

 

But lots of people do it; that is not the issue. It is quite expensive, because Auckland is an expensive city to visit and the whole family has to make the journey. You could combine it with a week's touring and just go to Auckland for one day, though. I don't know about costs in Fiji.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

 

Hi

 

Great info about going without the visa, another question for you just incase you have the answer. If we go to Aus and wait for our visa there, can we send the dog over and our 'stuff' without a visa too?

We have everything planned for June next year but now its looking like we may not get it in time ( Lodged application June 2008) but still want to go as planned and just sit it out in Adelaide.

Any info would be a great help.

 

Denise