Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

I've just tried to book a one way flight to Oz with Singapore Airlines. I chose them because I read on here that they will give double the baggage allowance if you are migrating to Australia.

However, this is not strictly true. They have told me that they will only give this extra allowance if you have what they called a 'Migrant' visa. This is not the same as a Residents Visa. They are adamant that the visa must have the word MIGRANT on it. Mine is just a plain old Spouse Visa which they will not accept. I told them that I have never heard of such a visa but they told me to contact Australia House if I didn't believe them.

I will now have to travel with a different airline.

I'm now totally confused. What is a 'Migrant' class of visa, how does it differ from a Permanent Resident Visa and why is it so important that it gets an extra baggage allowance.

Does anyone know of any airlines that give double baggage allowance without this restriction ?

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

I am emigrating on Wednesday 16th Oct flying Qantas, does anyone know if they increase luggage allowance if migrating?

Cheers
:cool:

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

Yes they do but you have to ask for it, generally in advance. Double KGs.

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

There is a subtle difference between migrant and permanent resident
visas. A migrant visa is generally applied for offshore, whereas
people apply for permanent residence onshore.

To make matters more complex a migration visa holder becomes a
permanent resident once he arrives and is immigration cleared in
Australia.

As for spouses, many arrive on temporary visas ...

Jeremy


    >On Sat, 12 Oct 2002 13:04:06 +0000, etlniwd wrote:
    >I've just tried to book a one way flight to Oz with Singapore Airlines.
    >I chose them because I read on here that they will give double the
    >baggage allowance if you are migrating to Australia.
    >However, this is not strictly true. They have told me that they will
    >only give this extra allowance if you have what they called a 'Migrant'
    >visa. This is not the same as a Residents Visa. They are adamant that
    >the visa must have the word MIGRANT on it. Mine is just a plain old
    >Spouse Visa which they will not accept. I told them that I have never
    >heard of such a visa but they told me to contact Australia House if I
    >didn't believe them.
    >I will now have to travel with a different airline.
    >I'm now totally confused. What is a 'Migrant' class of visa, how does it
    >differ from a Permanent Resident Visa and why is it so important that it
    >gets an extra baggage allowance.
    >Does anyone know of any airlines that give double baggage allowance
    >without this restriction ?
    >--
    >nick
    >Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

I arrived on a spouse visa.. provisional resident... Sub class 309 ... got my double allowance but had to fax it to them to prove it. Try Malaysian, they are a good airline... cant say about Singapore as I have never tried them but they have the highest safety record... not that that will give you double allowance, but thought I would squeeze it in :)

Yvonne :D

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

FYI, Singapore Airlines suffered its first major crash in Taiwan sometime back, I can't recall when exactly. Several people were killed in that accident prior to take-off. Their subsidiary airline, SilkAir, had a fatal crash a while back as well, where everyone on board perished when the plane went down in mid-air.

Not here to scare anyone, but Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary did have a few fatal accidents recently, not that any other airline is perfect.


Peter

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

That Singapore Airlines crash was in Oct 97 when a 747 tried to take off from a closed runway in Taipei and hit construction equipment.

That's the only Singapore Airlines fatal crash though.

A few major airlines including Qantas, Virgin, Emirates etc have never had a fatality.

Anyway, back to the original point. It seems that the first two people I spoke to at Singapore Airlines in London didn't really know what they were talking about. I finally got through to someone 'in the know' and I now have my airline tickets and double baggage allowance. As always, persistence is the key.

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

A bit off topic but I think the SQ crash in Taipei was more recent than 1997 (definitely after HK reverted to Chinese rule, not that the two incidents are related).


Peter

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

I am the same, the first person at Singapore Air wouldn't give my wife and kids double baggage as they had OZ passports even though I explained we were emigrating. However persistance paid off after speaking to a supervisor we all now have double baggage
Pat

Re: Confused - What is a 'Migrant' visa
 

You're right that was a typo. It was 31 Oct 2000.