Visitor Visa

Tourist Stream

For people travelling to Australia for a holiday or to visit family or friends.

As the visa applicant, you must:

1. genuinely intend to visit Australia for a holiday, to see family and/or friends, or for other purposes that are not related to business/work or medical treatment

2. have access to sufficient funds to cover your costs whilst you are in Australia

3. meet the relevant health and character criteria (this could include a requirement to obtain health insurance for the period of your stay in Australia)

 

BUSINESS VISITOR STREAM

For people travelling to Australia for short-term business purposes, such as a conference, negotiation or meeting.

As the visa applicant, you must:

1. ​genuinely intend to visit Australia for an eligible business activity e.g. attending a conference or seminar, participating in a negotiation or exploring a business opportunity

2. have personal attributes and a business background that are relevant to your business activities in Australia

3. have access to sufficient funds to cover your costs whilst you are in Australia

4. meet the relevant health and character criteria (this could include a requirement to obtain health insurance for the period of your stay in Australia)

​

SPONSORED FAMILY STREAM

For people travelling to Australia to visit family. Applicants for this visa must be sponsored by an eligible relative who lives in Australia.

Applicant Requirements

As the visa applicant, you must:

1. be sponsored by an eligible relative in Australia (see below)

2. genuinely intend to visit family in Australia

3. have access to sufficient funds to cover your costs whilst you are in Australia

4. meet the relevant health and character criteria (this could include a requirement to obtain health insurance for the period of your stay in Australia)

​

Sponsor Requirements

The person sponsoring your visit to Australia must:

1. be an Australian citizen or permanent resident

2. be at least 18 years old

3. have been settled in Australia for a reasonable length of time (usually at least 2 years)

4. be a close family member i.e. a spouse/de facto partner, or a parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew (or any of the ‘step’ or adopted equivalents of those relations)

​

NOTE: In certain cases, an application for this visa MAY instead be sponsored by a Member of Parliament, or an authorised person representing a government department or instrumentality, or a local government mayor.

• NOT be the sponsor of another visitor whose visa is still valid (unless that person is a member of your family, and you have the same reason for travelling to Australia), and NOT have within the last 5 years sponsored a visitor who breached his/her visa conditions.

​

Features of the Visitor visa (subclass 600)

This visa lets you visit Australia:

• to visit or for business visitor purposes

• for up to three, six or 12 months.

​

The base application charge for this visa ranges from AUD190 (offshore) to AUD475 (onshore).

​

If you hold a certain passport, you might be able to apply for a free or cheaper visa.

​

The eVisitor (subclass 651) visa is free. You must be a passport holder of a certain country.

​

The Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) visa has an AUD20 service charge. You must be a passport holder of a certain country.