Frequently Asked Questions

All travellers must hold a visa to enter Australia. To determine which visa is appropriate for your individual circumstances, use the Visa Finder tool at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-finder

You should not make non-refundable travel arrangements until you hold a visa to travel to Australia. Indicative processing times are available at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-processing-times/global-visa-processing-times. Processing times are impacted each month by changes in application volumes, seasonal peaks, complex cases, and incomplete applications.

A transit visa allows people to be in Australia for up to 72 hours before they must leave Australia.  Some people are eligible to transit without a visa. If you are from an eligible country, you can transit through Australia on your way to a third country without a visa provided you meet all of the following criteria:

• will arrive in Australia by aircraft
• have a confirmed ticket to leave Australia to travel to a third country by aircraft within 8 hours of arriving
• have valid travel documents to enter that country
• must not need to clear immigration or leave the airport transit lounge for any reason before boarding your onwards flight. Even if you meet all other criteria, including being of an eligible country, if you need to clear immigration, for example to collect or transfer baggage onto, and/or to board, your onwards flight, you will need an Australian visa to do this.

Applications and documents submitted online can be confirmed and tracked from your ImmiAccount, available at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/applying-online-or-on-paper/online

If you wish to confirm receipt of applications or documents submitted by registered mail or courier, you should check with the provider to confirm delivery.

The Department does not provide additional confirmation of receipt of documents or enquiries.

Once you have submitted your online application, you can attach documents through ImmiAccount until the application has been finalised.

Please check the relevant document checklist for the subclass you are applying for to see which documents to attach to your application. These should be scanned colour copies.

For more detail about how to upload files to ImmiAccount, please click here.

There are limits on the number of files which can be uploaded for each application. However, you may incorporate multiple documents in each file to minimise the total number of files you upload. Please note that files must not exceed 5MB in size.

If you are experiencing technical problems with ImmiAccount, please check the Frequently Asked Questions and Quick Reference Guides available on the Department’s website at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/applying-online-or-on-paper/online

If you require further technical support, use the ImmiAccount technical support form at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/applying-online-or-on-paper/online/technical-help 

There is no Biometrics Collection Centre in Germany. If you are in Europe and have received a requirement to provide biometrics, the nearest Biometrics Collection Centre may be in France or Greece. Further information is available at  https://www.vfsglobal.com/australia/france/ and https://www.vfsglobal.com/australia/greece/

All travellers who are not Australian citizens need to obtain a valid visa or authority to enter Australia. This must be obtained before travelling to Australia. Special provisions apply to most New Zealand citizens, and to people eligible to transit Australia without a visa.

You may be able to travel to Australia on a temporary visa while you are waiting for a permanent visa application to be finalised. However, as with all visas, you must meet the criteria for that visa and ensure that your entry and stay in Australia comply with the relevant conditions of that visa.

Once you have submitted your online visa application, you can attach documents through ImmiAccount until the application has been finalised.

Please check the relevant document checklist for the subclass you are applying for to see which documents to attach to your application. These should be scanned colour copies.

All documents, such as identity documents, birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates and other supporting documents for your visa application should be colour scanned copies. Please do not provide original documents unless specifically asked to do so by the Department.

Original documents in languages other than English must be accompanied by an English translation. The English translations must be appropriately endorsed. You can find certified translators in Australia on www.naati.com.au and in Germany on www.bdue.de.

If available in your country, you may also upload multilingual or international records, providing English is one of the languages on the record.  Germany issues birth, marriage and death certificates as international certificates, showing the details in German and English (and other European languages).

Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) is a secure and free web-based service available anywhere at any time. VEVO allows you to check your visa details online and provides information about your visa conditions and entitlements.

It details:

• the visa class and subclass
• the visa grant and expiry dates
• the visa grant number
• must enter Australia before date
• the names of any dependants listed on the visa
• the number of entries allowed
• the period of stay
• all conditions applicable to your visa in plain English.

If you have been granted a visa go to https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/already-have-a-visa/check-visa-details-and-conditions and select ‘Check your own visa details with VEVO’. When you have read and accepted the terms and conditions, a login screen will be displayed.

Step 1

Enter one of the following:

• The transaction reference number (TRN – which was issued to you if you applied for your visa online)
• Visa grant number (which you can find on your visa grant notification)
• Visa evidence number (which you can find on your existing visa label)

Step 2

To finish logging in, you must provide all of the following in the second part of the login process:

• Date of birth
• The passport number you used in your visa application
• Country of passport

With your permission, employers, labour hire companies, roads and traffic authorities, education institutions, banks and organisations can check your visa entitlements online. Other government agencies, for example Medicare and Centrelink, can also check your visa entitlements. Organisations do not need to sight a visa label; they can check your visa status and entitlements online.

Using VEVO is a secure and effective method to confirm the current entitlements of your visa.

For more information, please visit: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/already-have-a-visa/check-visa-details-and-conditions

You can check the progress of your application through ImmiAccount at https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/applying-online-or-on-paper/online

If the processing of your visa application is within global processing times (see How long will it take to process my application?) then the Department will not provide you with further information on its progress.

If processing of your application is outside of these processing times and you have provided all necessary information in order to make a decision on your application, then you can contact the Global Service Centre via Telephone (homeaffairs.gov.au)