Just to follow up on my post yesterday hubby had confirmation from Oz House today to say we could just carry both passports for our daughter. Hope that helps anyone else flapping!

No more posts that send me/us in to a mad panic please I'm flapping enough about everything as it is

Alison x

I was in Perth immigration office last week and there are signs EVERYWHERE saying you no longer need a sticker in your passport.

Medicare don't understand lack of visa in passports though so it pays to get the sticker done if you need to register with them. In their mind, even though they link up with Customs and can see you have PR or whatever, no sticker means no resident.

They're right. You don't need a sticker in your passport. However, having one will make life as an immigrant in Australia significantly easier.

Cheers

Steve

Agreed, my visa sticker has been photocopied on applications for many things, including my driving license - which I got today!

We've been on a 457 til now and just produced the grant letter for things requiring proof of residency.

However, we were granted PR today (I just wanted to sneak that in somewhere) so I'm considering getting a sticker in the passports.

Did I mention we got PR today?

Congratulations!

I would get stickers done.

This is my post from a thread I started similar to this a few months ago. It would seem that most DIAC & Australia House employees don't know what the score is with visa stickers either!!

"Thanks BS. What a shit few days we've had!! Spoke to a girl in London who said we definetely had to have a sticker in passport. When I read out my grant letter, especially the part where it was only recommended we get a sticker she suddenly back tracked. We then sent them an email as we didn't have confidence in what she was telling us, only for their e-mail to state that we do require a sticker.
Phoned London again & got some smart arse 20 something telling us that we would have to change our flights as we needed the sticker. And no, there was no facility for me getting the documents couriered. I honestly think he was pissed with me for not sending in our passports initially. I said to him,
"you can see why we didn't think it was needed as the grant letter only recommends the sticker". He said that "no, I can't see" and "if DIAC say it is recommended, then they really mean't that it is a requirement".
****ING PRICELESS!!!
So looked up flights for Friday, GLA-STN return. Booked day off work & phoned London again to see if they would let me visit & get the stupid ****ing stickers.
The phone was picked up by an angel!!!!
And he knew what he was talking about.
This is part of the email he sent me after our conversation

Dear Client,

Thank you for your enquiry.

As per our conversation, please note that your family can travel to Australia without visa labels in your passports.

There is no condition on your visa grant that requires you to have a visa label in your passport.

I have notified our border operations centre in Australia of your travel.

We do recommend that you present to an immigration office in Australia asap to obtain a visa label.



So the moral of the story is..........GET A ****ING STICKER"

By the way, we took our visa grant letter with us and not one person asked to see it.

No the moral of the story is don't ring up AHC or DIAC advice line. They know not what they say or mean. 10 phonecalls will provide you with 10 different answers.

Why would you not want a sticker? I wanted mine so I could look at it and think 'wow I have a visa' Can't do that without one

Some people hear a 'rule' and like to test it out. Each to their own.

I'm with you on wanting the label in my passport. When I first got my temp visa, we didn't believe it was allr eal until I saw the label in my passport!

Cheers

Steve

Yep. I would feel that 'something is missing' all the time. I would get it done.

I didn't "hear a rule". My grant letter said I didn't need one. So I didn't get one. Simples

I am confused. My passport is getting expired this month and after getting a new one, should I get a visa sticker or not? I'm staying in Townsville so dont know if there is any DIAC office here or not. Do I send my both passports to Brisbane to get a Visa Sticker on my new passport?

Thanks

The closest DIAC office to you is Cairns. Give them a ring on 131 881 and ask but I would imagine that you do need to send both. There is an online setup but I don't know if it's relevant to you or not.