When arriving in Australia with our brand new shiny visas does it take along time to get thru immigration ?
I was assuming it would take a bit longer than the usual customs /passport checks but an estimate of average time would be great ?


This probably sounds like a dumb question but 6 weeks to go, starting to feel a bit stressed and my Australian based relatives are bombarding me with questions about our arrival that I have no idea about . I have no idea why this in particular is so important to them but they are kind enough to help us out so all ideas much appreciated

It takes no longer than any other time going through customs. Nobody can tell you how long it's going to take, though. Could be 5 minutes like us or 5 hours.

No you enter as normal as a non australian citizen with normal tourists. They stamp your passport and thats it. You'll be lucky even to get a welcome to Australia from the immigration officer. No questions, no nothing. Your a PR now (well once you ener anyhow) and can come and go as you please.

...... but you still have to use the non-Australian queue until you get citizenship and Australian passport.

We were last off the plane with our 4 kids and mountain of luggage... and we walked straight into passport controll straight though customs.... all the 'officials' were really lovely... really talkative/friendly/welcoming and made quite a thing about us being the second large family arriving that week! Didn't take long at all...

The only one not interested in us when we met him was the customs sniffer dog... just ignored us and wandered off... Much to our relief

Sorry but it is only a big deal to you. To the poor blokes in immigration and customs you are but a blurred face never to be thought of again. They dont usually even try and engage because that is not their job and if you are over friendly they may suspect you of ulterior motives. Just the regular scan and check that you look like who your passport says you are and then you are on your way.

Edited to say - your original question was about the time it takes to get through - all depends on how many 747s are disgorging at the same time! Usually between 40 minutes and an hour from landing to emerging. Some times it is longer because the queues for baggage x rays move slowly and if you have stuff to declare it can take ages - just dont bring any foodstuffs or restricted items and, if you do, then declare them (even the left over bar of chocolate you were given on the plane)

Ahhhh who cares how long it takes luv, you'll be in AUSTRALIA waaaaaahoooooooo.Hope you have a happy new life.

When I got to the passport bit at Sydney, he asked if husband was meeting me:eek

Thanks for all the replies .
At least now I'll be able to tell the relatives something .