By Neeraj Nanda
Melbourne: If you hold a valid Australian visa then you need not have a label announcing that status on your passport to travel to, enter or remain in Australia. Australia’s electronic visa system enables visa status to be confirmed electronically when you enter, stay or depart the country. This and other changes have been introduced by Canberra to have visa information handy in a letter that explains visa conditions that were not available on a visa label.
As part of the Australian Government’s global program of label free travel to Australia, the Australian High Commission, New Delhi will implement visa label-free travel arrangements across India, Bhutan and Nepal from 1 October 2012.
From this date, anyone applying for any Australian visa through one of the VFS Global Australian Visa Application Centres across India or Nepal or lodging directly with the Australian High Commission in New Delhi will no longer be required to submit their passport with their visa application.
Instead they will be required to submit a notarised copy of each used page of their passport at the time of application.
The notarised copy of the passport must include the following pages:
• Good quality notarised photocopy of the biodata page of the current passport;
• Good quality notarised photocopy of any endorsement page or change of name page in the current passport; and
• For current Indian passports – good quality notarised photocopy of the back page with information on parents’ names and previous passports.
This request applies to all visa categories. Applicants who do not lodge the above documents with their visa application will experience delays in the processing of their visa application, says a Australian High Commission, New Delhi media release.
If a visa is then granted, the visa holder will be issued with a visa grant letter that will explain the conditions of the visa including period of validity and entry requirements.
The visa grant letter is not necessary to facilitate travel but we would advise clients to carry their visa grant letter with them when travelling as it will provide them with easy to understand information about the conditions of the visa, information which was not always easy to find on Australian visa labels.
Australia expects the new process will not only provide clients with better information about their visas but also reduce visa processing times and costs as clients will no longer have to wait for their passport to be returned to them via a courier or be required to travel to one of our Visa Application Centres to collect their passport.
For more information: Australian High Commission address: 1/50 G Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021 – Telephone: 4139 9900 – Fax: 4149 4490
