SydneyStace

Just a boring old passport question I'm afraid:

We have booked our first trip back to UK for August to the beginning of September 05. My passport expires 13th Oct 05. Should I get a new passport & then send off for a new visa as don't most countries require 6 months on your passport when you travel or will it be ok to travel on my current one as I will be entering UK & have a valid visa for Aus?

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated .

Thanks,
Stacey

JAJ

As far as I am aware there is no 6 month rule for coming back into Australia if you have a valid passport and PR visa.

However:
- some countries in the Far East do have such a rule
- there could therefore be problems at check-in

Best to get a new passport and try to get DIMIA to stamp a new visa in it. Although they will say it's ok to carry the visa in the old passport, this is also a recipe for delay/hassle every time you try to check in for an Australia bound flight as not all airline staff understand this.

Jeremy

SydneyStace

Thanks Jeremy, I will get a new one just to be on the safe side!

Stormz

We`ve been struggling with Aus and UK passports recently....

You could get a new UK passport when you`re here, and your visa should still be valid though... you`ll just have to show your old passport (in my Aus passport I have a visa for indefinite stay in the UK, and I can still use that but just have to show it in my old passport, and show my new Aus passport as well). I think it takes a few weeks at least to get a passport renewal here.

As an aside, I was told by Oz that it`s actually illegal to enter Australia on a foreign passport if you are an Aus citizen.... so my wife isn`t allowed to enter on her british passport it seems when we go back in June. So we`re trying our best to get her Aus passport renewed (went out of date 2 yrs ago), but have had to send off to Births/Deaths/Marriages for a bloody official marriage certificate before we can send all the docs off to London.

SydneyStace

I can understand where you're coming from. Pain in the arse these passports, but where would we be without them!!! The thing I'm worried about is getting stuck at check-in cos I've got a visa in my old passport & like Jeremy says, not all of them are aware that you can do this! Does anyone know if you have to pay to get another visa put in your new passport?

Thanks for the help!
Stace

Merlot

Not a lot of people know that, we make sure that both passports are kept up to date which gets a bit expensive as that is 4 passports for 2 bods, but less hassle if you need to drop everything and go to the other country.

M

JAJ

You don't need to pay (unless it's to transfer a resident return visa), however:

1. DIMIA may try initially say you don't need a visa in the new passport (technically true, but try telling some airline staff)

2. Depending on where/when the visa was granted, the 'system' may not be able to produce a new printed visa label. They can always do a handwritten one, but this is messy.

Jeremy