Do you need a business visitor visa to Australia?
I often get contacts from people who do not hold a Japanese passport but want or need to travel to Australia for a business meeting, or a conference.
Unfortunately, very often, these people contact me a week or so before they want to leave, to ask for my help to get them a visa. In these situations, it is very hard to help. Why is this?
If you don’t hold a Japanese visa, you might not be able to apply for an electronic travel authority (ETA). Depending on your passport, you might need to apply for a subclass 600 visitor visa.
The processing time at the Department of Home Affairs, for the subclass 600 visa, can be over 2 weeks! And, of course, this is just the time between lodging the application and getting a decision. It does not include the preparation time before submitting the application.
Depending on the applicant’s situation, these applications can be quite complex to prepare. Every applicant for a subclass 600 visa needs to convince the Department that they only intend to visit Australia for the purpose described in the application, and that their intent to stay in Australia temporarily is genuine.
Preparing such an application is not always easy and usually takes some time. A rushed preparation might take two weeks. It is not unusual for preparation to take four weeks, as there may be a number of documents and pieces of evidence that we need to collect, and statements that need to be prepared.
So, if your company is planning to send you on a business trip, and you need a business visitor visa to Australia, please think about your visa early (and contact me if you need assistance). If you get the opportunity to visit Australia on business, let’s make sure you can get the visa you need!
