Australia - Visas Needed?

[Keith1010]

Yes you absolutely need an ETA when sailing to Australia. It does not matter where you are sailing from. It is good for one year from purchase.

 

Keith

[bconley351]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to fill out the application to get our visas for our January cruise, but it keeps saying I have to 'enter at least one telephone number or there is an illegal character'. I have my cellphone entered, with no hyphen. I added the US country code thinking that was the problem, but it won't go to the next page. Any suggestions? I just save the application, and came here for advise.

[mapleleaf2012]

I guess my big question is what site are you using?

 

You could always send a message to the site administrator or go to the FAQ to see if they have a required format for a phone number.

 

Did you enter 011 or 1? :)

[davecttr]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to fill out the application to get our visas for our January cruise, but it keeps saying I have to 'enter at least one telephone number or there is an illegal character'. I have my cellphone entered, with no hyphen. I added the US country code thinking that was the problem, but it won't go to the next page. Any suggestions? I just save the application, and came here for advise.

Maybe it expects you to enter the number for a landline?

[bconley351]

Thanks everyone! I figured it out.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to fill out the application to get our visas for our January cruise, but it keeps saying I have to 'enter at least one telephone number or there is an illegal character'. I have my cellphone entered, with no hyphen. I added the US country code thinking that was the problem, but it won't go to the next page. Any suggestions? I just save the application, and came here for advise.

[mapleleaf2012]

Thanks everyone! I figured it out.

 

And tge solution was...?

[bconley351]

Such a silly thing....when I looked up the country code for the USA it said +1 so I entered that. The illegal character was the '+'.

[PG13]

Yes u need to have an Australian visa. Also--Is it true, heard bridge in Sydney collapsed yesterday? I hope not

 

I'm going to appear dense here but, U.S. citizens need a visa to visit Australia and New Zealand and a passport? We have cruised to many countries and never needed a visa. And if we need one, how far ahead do you need to apply for this?

[MrsWaldo]

It's an online application that may only take 24 hours to be processed. I've known it to be almost instant.

 

I'd check if your cruise line gets a blanket one for the ship.... but in short.... yes you need it (and the blanket one may well be why you;ve not needed one before when cruising)

[GradUT]

I'm going to appear dense here but, U.S. citizens need a visa to visit Australia and New Zealand and a passport? We have cruised to many countries and never needed a visa. And if we need one, how far ahead do you need to apply for this?

 

1. U.S. citizens need a passport to travel to any country on a cruise unless they are doing a closed loop in the Caribbean.

 

2. U.S. citizens need an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) to enter Australia. Apply for it on the official Australian government website (not a 3rd party website). The cost is A$20.00 (about U.S. $15.00) and you can generally received it instantaneously. You will not get a "visa" in your passport. Rather, it is an electronic "visa" which is tied to your passport and will appear when you check in for your flight or cruise and when you enter the country. I suggest you print up a copy of the confirmation you will receive for your files. The official Australian government website for applying for an ETA is: www/eta.immi.gov.au

 

3. U.S. citizens do not need a visa to enter New Zealand for visits of less than 3 months.

 

4. For future reference, you can find out visa requirements for U.S. citizens on the U.S. Department of State website, http://www.travel.state.gov There, you can enter the name of the country you plan to visit and find out what are the entry requirements for U.S. citizens, e.g. whether you need a visa, whether you need blank pages in your passport for visa, how long your passport must be valid to enter the country, etc.

[WAVTAM]

Have used easyeta numerous times. Only $9.95

[ChattTenn]

My cruise to Australia won't be until March 2016 and understood that I will need to apply for the Visa soon.

 

Which form of payment does this ETA website accept?. Will it take PayPal or just credit card only?.

 

Thanks.

[GradUT]

The official Australian government website for obtaining ETAs, http://www.eta.immi.gov.au, only accepts credit cards as payment.

Edited December 27, 2015 by GradUT

[Mr. Click]

We used EasyETA.com for our trip last Oct/Nov. It took about 5 minutes to fill out the forms on line and submit our $9.95 and we had our ETAs in less than 5 more minutes. It can't get any easier. AND, we got in and out of Australia just fine. 3 cities in one week before the cruise and Tasmania during the cruise.

[baderry]

I am coming from the US (Texas) and was just informed by my TA that I do need a Visa and I should use the link provided by the cruiseline for VisaHQ which charges $59.00 US per Visa. I'm confused. :eek: Can someone please tell me if an American citizen flying into Sydney for a cruise can purchase an online ETA from the Australian website that's mention in the posts on this Cruise Critic Site?

 

Thank in advance,

baderry

[mapleleaf2012]

I am coming from the US (Texas) and was just informed by my TA that I do need a Visa and I should use the link provided by the cruiseline for VisaHQ which charges $59.00 US per Visa. I'm confused. :eek: Can someone please tell me if an American citizen flying into Sydney for a cruise can purchase an online ETA from the Australian website that's mention in the posts on this Cruise Critic Site?

 

Thank in advance,

baderry

 

Absolutely! I will be purchasing my directly from the Ausie government. I'm getting off a cruise in Sydney and staying for 6 nights.

 

3rd party visa handlers are only in it to make money. IMHO

[GradUT]

I am coming from the US (Texas) and was just informed by my TA that I do need a Visa and I should use the link provided by the cruiseline for VisaHQ which charges $59.00 US per Visa. I'm confused. :eek: Can someone please tell me if an American citizen flying into Sydney for a cruise can purchase an online ETA from the Australian website that's mention in the posts on this Cruise Critic Site?

 

Thank in advance,

baderry

 

Baderry--

 

Yes, you can absolutely use the OFFICIAL, AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE to obtain your ETA. You make your application online and you will receive notification almost instantaneously that your ETA has been processed. You will get a confirmation number which you should print and have available in case there are any problems later. (There won't be.) You do not get a "visa" stamped in your passport; rather the ETA is electronically linked to your passport. The ETA itself is free, but there is a AUD 20.00 processing fee which you pay with your credit card. (It works out to approximately US$ 14.00.)

 

Now, I have to wonder about your travel agent. Doesn't he/she know about ETAs and the OFFICIAL AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE? If he/she is steering you to an unofficial site that charges $59.00, then I would seriously be doubting any other information he/she gives you.

 

If you have any other questions about obtaining an ETA, please ask.

 

Here's the website you need: https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAS3/etas

[baderry]

Thank you all so much for the information. I will definitely use the website and purchase ours. Your input is greatly appreciated!

[pv girl]

I just did it on the govt site last week and got an instant reply. Worked out to a little over USD14 billed to my credit card. That makes it official, so I am getting excited!

[ChattTenn]

Our cruise won't be until March but already applied for VISA ETA website. After filled out information and agreed on everything, we printed out the confirmation (with a reference number) payment receipt.

 

According the payment receipt a notification regarding the outcome of your application will also be sent to our email address. It has been nearly 5 days and we still did not receive the notification.

 

As I understood by reading this board, it will take only 24 or 48 hours is the most to receive the confirmation email. Should we expect the email or the document we printed will be good enough for us to pass through Australia Immigration?.

 

Thanks

[GradUT]

The document you printed should be all that you need...and you won't really even need that. Your ETA is electronically attached to your passport and you don't have to present any documentation to Australian Immigration and Border Protection officials other than your passport.

 

Actually, you will have confirmation that your ETA is attached to your passport when you go to check in for your flight to Australia because you aren't allowed to board without it.

 

But, if you want to check your ETA, you can always do so on the website:

https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAS3/etas

Edited January 9, 2016 by GradUT

[mapleleaf2012]

Our cruise won't be until March but already applied for VISA ETA website. After filled out information and agreed on everything, we printed out the confirmation (with a reference number) payment receipt.

 

According the payment receipt a notification regarding the outcome of your application will also be sent to our email address. It has been nearly 5 days and we still did not receive the notification.

 

As I understood by reading this board, it will take only 24 or 48 hours is the most to receive the confirmation email. Should we expect the email or the document we printed will be good enough for us to pass through Australia Immigration?.

 

Thanks

 

Which website did you use? The official or a 3rd party?

[ChattTenn]

Thanks for all the responses.

 

We went to the OFFICIAL site. The cost is $20.00 AUD per person. Once we completed the information & payment. We got the confirmation number and a confirmation on payment. We printed both of them (just in case) and is shown with our past port # in it.

 

Just strange because the paper indicated we will receive an email to the one we provided. It has been several days so we are a little concern.

 

Thanks again everyone.

Edited January 9, 2016 by ChattTenn

[ChattTenn]

The document you printed should be all that you need...and you won't really even need that. Your ETA is electronically attached to your passport and you don't have to present any documentation to Australian Immigration and Border Protection officials other than your passport.

 

Actually, you will have confirmation that your ETA is attached to your passport when you go to check in for your flight to Australia because you aren't allowed to board without it.

 

But, if you want to check your ETA, you can always do so on the website:

https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAS3/etas

 

That is the site we used. Since we have a reference # and will check at later date.

 

Thanks

[ellieanne]

The document you printed should be all that you need...and you won't really even need that. Your ETA is electronically attached to your passport and you don't have to present any documentation to Australian Immigration and Border Protection officials other than your passport.

 

Actually, you will have confirmation that your ETA is attached to your passport when you go to check in for your flight to Australia because you aren't allowed to board without it.

 

But, if you want to check your ETA, you can always do so on the website:

https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAS3/etas

 

Yes, the ETA is attached to your passport, but I have had numerous occasions when my passport has not been readable, so having the paper back-up was beneficial. The agent could look it up on the computer from the print-out. It's not strictly necessary, but with the issues I've experienced, I tell everyone to have the paper back-up just in case. And you never know, I've been in the passport control lines and the computers went down. Having the paper in that situation made it easier for me to get through the line.