We went on a life changing trip to Australia back in 2017. My fiancée and I just fell in love with the place. We especially found Gold Coast super chill and it’s a place that we can live in. Like if I’d become rich and not have to worry about money, I would without a doubt move there. lol

The best part about applying for an Australian Tourist Visa is that you can do it online! I actually thought Australia would be quite strict in their visa application process but it has been quite a breeze. I started searching about how to submit an online application and it led me to this website.

Filipino citizens who are going to visit Australia for tourism should apply for the Visitor Visa (subclass 600). You may still lodge your application at VFS Cebu but I think it’s better if you apply online because you would save more time and money.

These are the five easy steps in applying for your Australian Tourist Visa online:

1. SIGN UP FOR AN IMMIACCOUNT HERE.

Make sure to use a valid email address since they will send your visa to your email address. If you would like to lodge a group visa for your family, you may just make one account and use it to submit your visa application. An email will be sent to you for the verification of your immiaccount. Follow the instructions to verify your account.

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2. FILL UP THE APPLICATION FORM ONLINE.
Once you have verified your account, you may now fill up the application form. If you would like to complete it in another time, you may save your progress and continue filling it up next time. As long as you haven’t submitted your application, you may still edit your answers. To help you with filling up, I have summarized the information that you will need when filling up the form:

a. Scheduled dates of travel and proposed period of stay
b. Your personal information, including your address, contact and passport details
c. Details of your travel companions
d. Details of your non-accompanying family members
e. Details of your relatives in Australia
f. Details on how you will fund your stay
g. Details of the previous visas issued to you

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3. ATTACH SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS.
Once you’re done filling up the application form, you may now start attaching your supporting documents. Note that you don’t need to submit your passport to the Australian Embassy. The supporting documents are outlined in the online application and stated as required or just recommended.

Also, we used the CamScanner App in scanning some of the documents that are already flat. We didn’t use the app to scan the passport pages because it just wouldn’t hold open by itself so we used a real scanner for that.

Below are the required supporting documents that we attached for each category:
a. Photograph  – Passport sized with white background.

b. Travel Document – Passport bio page

c. Evidence of Travel History – Copies of all visas and stamps in our current and previous passports (This will be required for those applying for an Australian visa for the first time.)

Here are the recommended documents that we attached per category. They’re not required but it will surely help the consulate in approving your visa.

a. Family Register and Composition Form – Completely filled up FORM 54

b. Evidence of Planned Tourism Activities
– Cover Letter
– Roundtrip Tickets to Australia
– Planned Itinerary of our whole stay – Sample Itinerary
– You may also submit hotel bookings as well but we didn’t submit this one since we haven’t booked our hotels yet.

c. Evidence of Financial Status 
– Personal Bank Certificate
– Bank Statement for 6 months
– Income Tax Return (or payslips for employees)
– Credit credit card statements
– Property Title

d. Invitation From Family or Friends – We didn’t submit one even though we have friends/family Australia but you may if you like.

e. Evidence of Current Employment
– Business Permit and Mayor’s Permit (if self-employed)
– DTI Registration (if self-employed)
– Employment Certificate or Letter of Employment or Employment Contract (if employed)
– Evidence of Leave

f. Group Tour Details – we didn’t submit anything here because it’s only applicable for groups that are going on a tour group.

g. Reasons for extended stay in Australia – we are only staying there for a week so this did not apply to us.

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4. PAY THE VISA APPLICATION FEE.
You may pay for your application through your debit or credit card or through paypal.
The application fee is AUD 140.
We paid through paypal and there was a service charge of AUD 1.40. The total amount that we paid was AUD 141.40 or around PHP 5,200.

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5. SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION.
Once you have completed your application form, attached all your supporting documents, and paid the application fee, click the send button to submit your application. You will then receive an acknowledgement letter in your email immediately after you submit your application.

How long is the wait?
On our first application back in 2017, we submitted the application at 11:11pm on August 29, 2017. My boyfriend received his Australian visa on August 31, 2017 at 11:09 am. So that’s a total of just 1 day and a half. My boyfriend got a multiple entry visa for one year.

This time, we submitted a group application for 6 people.
June 25, 2019 – We submitted the first application at night.
June 26, 2019 – We submitted four applications during the day.
June 27, 2019 – We submitted the last application.
July 6, 2019 – We received an email containing our visas. We got multiple entry visas good for one year.

Your visa grant will look like this. Just bring this with you every time you enter Australia.

Read about what we, as first timers did in Sydney back in 2017 here! If you’re also visiting the Gold Coast and Melbourne, read some tips here and here! ❤