Sep 9, 2019, 10:35 pm
Last edit by: Mwenenzi
Australia
AU Govt-->COVID-19 and the border
Links below may not work, due to Covid-19 changes
Visa Australian Government web site
FT thread---> Free Australian ETA Visa application* Click to open the wiki
Processing Australian ETAs for free * to FT members (and up to 3 more friends & family) who have more than 80 posts, AND have at least been members for more than 12 months! Please read post 1. Thanks to Guy Betsy for his service to the FT community
Entry Australian government web site
FT thread --->Smartgate at Australia & NZ immigration Click to open the wiki
Australia
Departure Australian government web site
Departing from Australia
From Departing from Australia > Departures SmartGates
AU Govt-->COVID-19 and the border
Links below may not work, due to Covid-19 changes
Visa Australian Government web site
- Entering or leaving Australia
- Going through the border
- Visa types
- Visa listing
- Travellers eligible to transit without a visa (TWOV]
- Sub class 601 Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) AUD$20. For passports holders including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong (SAR of China), Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Portugal, Republic of San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (excluding official or diplomatic passports), The Netherlands, United Kingdom—British Citizen, United Kingdom—British National (Overseas), United States of America, Vatican City (the list is increasing). Check your eligibility & visa type needed.
- Subclass 651 eVisitor For many other passport holders. Check your eligibility & visa type needed.
FT thread---> Free Australian ETA Visa application* Click to open the wiki
Entry Australian government web site
FT thread --->Smartgate at Australia & NZ immigration Click to open the wiki
Australia
Departure Australian government web site
Departing from Australia
From Departing from Australia > Departures SmartGates
Australia immigration (incl ETA visa) & customs
Nov 9, 2015, 11:36 pm
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,018
They tend to have 1 main phone number that then gets redirected.
Do not like your chances of making phone contact. Finding out the normal non 13 number is hard
From https://www.border.gov.au/about/cont...ions/australia
https://www.border.gov.au/about/cont...ions/australia
Do not like your chances of making phone contact. Finding out the normal non 13 number is hard
From https://www.border.gov.au/about/cont...ions/australia
Do you have a question regarding visa, citizenship, travel or trade, including bringing goods in and out of Australia? Let us help you find the right answer.
Find the answer to your query by using our webform.
If your query is still unanswered you can contact us by phone, Monday – Friday 8.30am – 4.30pm on 131 881 in Australia, except public holidays.
Find the answer to your query by using our webform.
If your query is still unanswered you can contact us by phone, Monday – Friday 8.30am – 4.30pm on 131 881 in Australia, except public holidays.
https://www.border.gov.au/about/cont...ions/australia
Nov 10, 2015, 4:50 am
#32
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: FT Premium Fare Deals
Posts: 74
That front office guy mentioned that when you are under time pressure and cannot call them from outside Australia, in order to better your chances for quick finalization you should include word "URGENT" in the subject line of your e-mail sent to eVisitor Helpdesk mailbox. They apparently have a filter set that filters out those e-mails every morning and those are then treated with highest priority each working day.
Nov 14, 2015, 10:06 pm
#34
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
As an aside your plan for making Oz a transit if not having visa to enter is sound, it would have worked but limited international arrivals available for your PER leg (so SYD-AKL-PER would have to have been on NZ not QF for example to avoid a domestic leg in Oz). Plus you lose the booked SYD-PER leg which could have created other problems (e.g. repricing of your QR ticket to be much more expensive). Visitor numbers have surged into Oz at a time when the visa processors are striking for better pay which undoubtedly adds to these delays.
Jun 3, 2016, 7:26 pm
#35
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
Reading some older posts I'm seeing mixed outcomes of getting a passport stamp upon entering Oz. Have they completely done away with them now?
Going for leisure and like to collect the stamps as souvenirs, so an extra little while in line is not a big deal for us.
Going for leisure and like to collect the stamps as souvenirs, so an extra little while in line is not a big deal for us.
Jun 4, 2016, 12:39 am
#36
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles California
Posts: 1,395
I would love to know too as we are flying into Brisbane ...if we use Smartgate would our passports get stamped?
Jun 5, 2016, 4:52 am
#37
Join Date: May 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: NW/CO, DL Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 17
We arrived in MEL on June 5, so I can definitely say that yes, you can still get your passport stamped after using Smartgate. We scanned our passports, answered the 3 questions at the kiosk (took less than a minute; the wait in line was longer), then took the tickets that printed out and went through the facial recognition line with no wait (my s.o. forgot to take off his glasses and had to redo his). After standing around for a few minutes bewildered that the whole process took less time than toasting a bagel but still coveting inky proof that we had entered the country, we went over to the Australian Border Force desk to the right of the hallway leading to baggage claim and asked the woman sitting there where we could get our passports stamped. She smiled, took our passports, stamped the pages, and returned them to us without saying a word. We thanked her profusely and went on our way. This almost made up for the previous day's travel from hell (bad storms at IAH delayed our flight from ATL for 3 hours, so we missed our connection to LAX and onward to MEL and had to reschedule for the next day, barely escaping Houston's crappy weather as the last 2 standbys on that day's long-delayed last flight out, arriving at LAX at 3 am local time). Almost. All this is to say that yes, you can go through Smartgate and still get your passport stamped if you ask the Australian Border Force official politely.
Jun 7, 2016, 10:54 am
#38
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles California
Posts: 1,395
We arrived in MEL on June 5, so I can definitely say that yes, you can still get your passport stamped after using Smartgate. We scanned our passports, answered the 3 questions at the kiosk (took less than a minute; the wait in line was longer), then took the tickets that printed out and went through the facial recognition line with no wait (my s.o. forgot to take off his glasses and had to redo his). After standing around for a few minutes bewildered that the whole process took less time than toasting a bagel but still coveting inky proof that we had entered the country, we went over to the Australian Border Force desk to the right of the hallway leading to baggage claim and asked the woman sitting there where we could get our passports stamped. She smiled, took our passports, stamped the pages, and returned them to us without saying a word. We thanked her profusely and went on our way. This almost made up for the previous day's travel from hell (bad storms at IAH delayed our flight from ATL for 3 hours, so we missed our connection to LAX and onward to MEL and had to reschedule for the next day, barely escaping Houston's crappy weather as the last 2 standbys on that day's long-delayed last flight out, arriving at LAX at 3 am local time). Almost. All this is to say that yes, you can go through Smartgate and still get your passport stamped if you ask the Australian Border Force official politely.
Jun 8, 2016, 3:21 pm
#39
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP...couple hotels and cars too
Posts: 4,548
as a data point, I cleared customs and immigration in ~20 minutes on March 12 2016. F cabin off QF 007... GE/Smart gate... one checked bag off quickly and then customs just looked at our forms and said 'you can go'. Nothing to declare- we were incoming customers. 
Jun 9, 2016, 8:10 am
#40
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 1
I managed to dig the number out of virtualtourist forum and after a short call with super nice front office personnel early this morning got my visa granted in less than 3 hours. All finally solved.
That front office guy mentioned that when you are under time pressure and cannot call them from outside Australia, in order to better your chances for quick finalization you should include word "URGENT" in the subject line of your e-mail sent to eVisitor Helpdesk mailbox. They apparently have a filter set that filters out those e-mails every morning and those are then treated with highest priority each working day.
That front office guy mentioned that when you are under time pressure and cannot call them from outside Australia, in order to better your chances for quick finalization you should include word "URGENT" in the subject line of your e-mail sent to eVisitor Helpdesk mailbox. They apparently have a filter set that filters out those e-mails every morning and those are then treated with highest priority each working day.
Please can you give me the number that you have called? Because I have the same problem that you have and I couldn't find any number to call them.
I really need it
Jun 11, 2016, 7:44 pm
#41
Join Date: May 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: NW/CO, DL Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 17
Jun 13, 2016, 12:03 pm
#42
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles California
Posts: 1,395
Looks like you may have to go through the regular non-Smartgate line with her, sorry. According to this (https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Ente/...teor-ePassport), "only Australian children aged 10 to 15 years (inclusive) can use arrivals SmartGate if they are accompanied by a minimum of two adults." Nothing about the other Smartgate non-Australian minors; it looks like they're considering expanding the age eligibility in the future, just not now. On the bright side, you can get your passports stamped easily in the regular line, and from what I could see, the regular lines weren't too terribly long in MEL if that's your arrival airport. Good luck!
Jun 13, 2016, 2:05 pm
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,018
Today:-
7 landing from 06:00 to 07:00. Long haul and wide body as a guess.
3 landing from 07:00 to 08:00. 2 are narrow body from NZ (B737 A320 type).
Jun 14, 2016, 3:19 am
#45
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,512
i don't fly into Brisbane often but would certainly agree with the zoo comment. Last time I came through it took me over an hour and that was being pretty rude with cutting the informal queues/mobs before the immigration hall, my brother and his family on the same flight were more polite and it took them 2 1/2 hours.