Find out how long it takes to get a visa to Australia, what can cause delays in processing and when is the best time to apply for your eVisitor or eTA online.
If you are planning a trip to Australia in the near future, whether for tourism or business reasons, you will need to obtain a visa or electronic travel authorisation for the country before your departure date. To avoid missing your flight due to poor organisation or applying too late, we suggest you find out how long it takes to process and obtain a visa for Australia. As you will see, online eVisa applications such as the eVisitor or eTA are much faster than traditional visa applications.
Australia visa processing time: Key points
- It is possible to obtain an eVisitor or eTA visa online within 72 hours.
- Thanks to our partner, the eVisitor or eTA processing time can be reduced to 12 hours
- It currently takes 2 months to obtain a traditional tourist visa for Australia
- The ideal time to apply for an eVisitor or eTA for Australia is two weeks before your trip.
At present, applicants from certain countries have the opportunity to benefit from the eVisitor online visa scheme for EU nationals. This procedure has the advantage of a very short processing time compared to the traditional visa.
Indeed, to fill in the online eTA or eVisitor application form, it will only take you a few minutes and the answer to your application and therefore your eVisa will be sent to you within 72 hours at most. All you have to do is fill in some information about yourself and your passport number and answer a few simple questions.
In addition, while the advertised time to receive a response to your application is only 72 hours, it is common for applicants to receive their visa in much less time.
However, we recommend that you apply at least one to several weeks before your departure in order to be prepared for any eventuality, including an unexpected refusal of your application.
It takes 2 months to obtain a Classic Tourist Visa for Australia. However, most applications are processed in less than 1 month.
The processing time may vary depending on the time of year and the workload of the Australian visa office.
To speed up the processing of your application, you can choose fast-track processing. In this case, the processing time is reduced to 10 working days.
Please note:
- The processing times may be longer for complex applications or for applications submitted from a non-eligible country.
- Australian citizens and permanent residents do not require a visa to enter Australia.
To obtain an Australian visa more quickly, it is preferable to apply for an eVisitor or eTA.
If you find that you have still not received your eVisa for Australia after 72 hours, there are several reasons for this.
The first may be the email address you entered in the form. Indeed, if you made a mistake when entering this address, it is normal that you did not receive your visa. This is because your visa is only sent to you electronically. In this case, you will have to restart the procedure from the beginning.
But before doing this new procedure, remember to check that the response from the Australian authorities has not been classified as junk mail by checking your spam folder. Finally, you can also check the status of your application online.
Another common problem is payment. Indeed, if the payment of the processing and transfer fees has not been successful, you will also have to restart the procedure from the beginning as the payment of these fees is essential and mandatory to validate your online visa application.
We have just seen together that the online visa application procedure eVisitor or eTA for Australia is particularly fast and allows you to obtain this travel authorisation in less than 72 hours or even less. However, we strongly recommend that you do not wait for this time or apply at the last minute for this procedure if you do not want to find yourself without a visa at the time of your departure.
For example, what if your eVisitor is refused because you made a simple mistake in filling in the form? In this case, you will have to make a complete application again, starting from the beginning. This will require additional time.
A new procedure will also be required if your online visa is refused due to a specific case allowing you to apply for a regular visa. Here, keep in mind that the delays will be much longer and can reach several weeks.
But there is no need to apply too early either. The eVisitor is valid for one year from the date of issue. If you want to use it again for several trips, it is best to keep it as long as possible.
Ideally, you should apply for your visa for Australia (eTA or eVisitor) a few weeks before your departure date and at most one month before your trip. This will allow you to carry out your project with peace of mind.
The time taken to obtain an online visa for Australia should not be confused with the validity period or the length of stay in the country with this permit.
Whether you have applied for an eVisitor or an eTA to go to Australia, the duration of your stay in this country will be limited to 3 months or 90 consecutive days.
This means that when you arrive in Australia you will need to present a return flight ticket with a date within this time frame. If you wish to stay in Australia for longer than three months, this is of course still possible but you will need to apply for a regular visa. Here, you will of course have to take into account the much longer waiting period, usually of several weeks.
It is also not possible to extend the duration of this stay once in the country. The Australian government has introduced this system in order to reduce the use of the eVisitor or eTA to authorised travel in the country, such as tourist or business trips, which logically should not last longer than 3 months.
Once you have obtained your eVisitor or eTA visa to travel to Australia, it will be valid for one year. In fact, during the year following the date of obtaining this visa, you will be able to make as many visits to Australia as you wish, without having to repeat this procedure, which represents a considerable saving of time and a real advantage, especially if you are a business traveller who regularly visits the country or if you have family in this country.
But beware! The trips you can make to Australia with this visa must comply with the initial conditions of the eVisitor or eTA scheme. This means that you can only go to Australia for tourism or business and that the maximum duration of each stay cannot exceed 3 consecutive months.
Similarly, you will not be able to use this eVisitor or eTA for further travel if some of your details have changed. This concerns in particular your passport number, which must be the one you indicated in the form at the time of your application, but also your nationality or your name. If any of this information has changed since your first application, you will need to apply again, starting from the beginning.
Many travellers also wonder whether the validity of the eTA or eVisitor is automatically renewed after the legal validity year. Of course it is not and the visa is considered invalid as soon as it expires. It will then be necessary to re-apply if you wish to travel to Australia again.
Adeline HARMANT
As a web writer and globetrotter with a passion for travel and tourism, I have acquired in-depth knowledge of the procedures that are essential for travellers. I help travellers to complete all the formalities required for a successful trip, particularly when it comes to obtaining a visa online. With several years' experience in this field, I'd like to offer you some valuable advice to help you discover the world with complete peace of mind.
The time you should expect to take to apply for an eVisitor or eTA eVisa online is only a few minutes. Indeed, the procedure is quite simple and only requires you to fill in an application form with your contact details, passport number and email address and answer some simple questions.
If you apply online for an eVisa to travel to Australia, you will receive a response to your application within 72 hours, or three days at most. In reality, however, this is often shorter and most applicants receive a response within a few hours. However, the processing time for regular visas is much longer and can take several weeks.
Once obtained, the eVisitor or eTA visa for Australia will be valid for one year. During this period you can use it to make one or more trips to Australia as it is a multiple entry visa. However, you will need to meet the conditions set out in the scheme, including a stay of less than 3 months in the country.
