Jimmy Flawless

Hello everyone,

This is my first post in these forums. I have a question that I really hope someone can give me some good advice on. I've had a good look through the forums but cannot find the specific answer I am looking for.

Basically I would like to know if it is possible to travel to Australia without having evidenced the visa first. In other words what would happen if you arrived in Australia with only your passport and visa grant letter? Would immigration be able to put in the sticker at the airport, or would you be able to get it put in at a later date at a DIAC office? Or would you be refused entry?

I presume that when you get your visa grant letter your name/passport number are held on a database, and it would be obvious to immigration from looking at your passport whether you had been granted the visa, even without the sticker.

I realise that it would be better to have the sticker before travelling, but if there is just not enough time to do this before a booked flight, couldn't it just be done at the point of entry? I have read of just one person on these forums having had this situation (got the sticker put in at Sydney airport), and wondered if this was just a one-off/exceptional event or if is is quite common.

By the way the visa I am referring to is a skilled independent (136).

Thanks in advance for any comments!

Jimmy

NickyC

It's unlikely that you could arrive here without a sticker as you'd have trouble even getting on the flight without it . Even if the check-in staff could be persuaded to let you on (on the basis of the grant letter) you'd not have a smooth start to the journey.

Andy n Georgina

If you look on the DIAC website and do a search for label free travel it says you can travel without the visa label (Your visa is linked to their computer systems when they swipe your passport at the airport) as long as you get it put in within 4 weeks of arrival in Australia. Depends on where your going but if theres no regional office near you your better off getting it put in before you travel.

claireinoz

I'm on a 457 visa and phoned the australian embassy in london before travelling and they told me not to send my passport in and to get the sticker when i arrived in australia. I had to go to the department of immigration when i got here and they gave it to me there. All my details were on the computer at the airport and i had no problems getting in without the sticker, they never even asked.

If your still worried i'd advise that you phone the Australian embassy in london before you come and just check with them.

tripawaymars

I will have a RSMS PR visa..I assume I can just go to the Aistralian Embassy in London and get a sticker for the passport without having to go to Australia to validate it. I think i will have to get the sticker so that I can sponsor my partner on interdependency visa. I have been told I don't have to have a PR visa validated in Oz and that when I receive it I have immediate PR status. Is this correct?

tripawaymars

Thanks Pollyana,
We will be going pretty much as soon as I get PR granted..2 months later at the most and I have been told that there is no time limit for entrance to Oz with a PR visa..maybe if a migratory agent reads this the can confirmt his for me.
Thanks
Liz

JAJ

No it's not correct - RSMS visa needs to be validated (by making first entry to Australia) like any other offshore permanent visa.

tripawaymars

I was told by DIMC that I could just go to Australian Embassy in London and het a stamp, otherwise I would have to go to Oz, to come back over here for just 4 weeks max to do my partners interdependency application..which I am told are very quick if sufficient evidence is there to prove together more than 5 years. It stated on the e mail from DIMC that as soon as I got notification I had permanent residency status and that I could then apply immediately for the interdependency visa application without having to first go to Oz to validate it. They also thought there was no time limit to validate a PR visa...although this not an issue as would be going as soon as partner got PR.

My main issue is can I apply for partners interdependency visa as soon as I get notification from DIMC that mine has been granted..or do I have to go to Oz to get mine validated and then come back and apply? That would be ludicrous and a waste of money!

tripawaymars

I am not worried about validating it..can I do this when I emigrate permanently and enter Australia to live...I can get a ticket in my visa by going to London Australia House...

JAJ

An "Australian permanent resident" is the holder of a permanent visa who is usually resident in Australia.

This is interpreted differently by different DIAC offices, when you go to sponsor a partner. London has generally been more flexible.

Regarding validation by making first entry to Australia, this is a mandatory condition on your visa and if you don't do it, the visa will be cancelled.

You should also be aware that any changes in personal circumstances before validation must be reported to DIAC and may cause the visa to be cancelled. Also, your employer could withdraw visa sponsorship up to that point.

Pay attention to the employment conditions attached to your RSMS visa. It would not generally be acceptable to wait overseas for an excess period of time and not take up your job just because you are waiting to sponsor a partner.

For getting your visa stamped, it is recommended to do this at Australia House before travelling otherwise you may be refused permission to board a flight.

JAJ

That is wrong advice. You should see that if you read your visa grant letter.

esperanza

I came in to Australia this year on a PR visa. It did have a time limit on it, (A point by which it had to be validated by entering Australia) although I got the impression that this time limit might vary slightly between applicants.
It had to be stamped at the airport before it was properly validated, and as I understand it the date of that stamp is the date that I became a permanent resident, not the date that the sticker was issued or the date that we got the ok.

tripawaymars

I have been told that an interdependency visa can be very quick..a matter of weeks if all meds etc are done and frontloaded...my employer is very understanding and he realises we wnat to fly out together..this ahs already been discussed with him. I will therefore get my visa stamped in London adn then validate it when I emigrate..which will be a matter of about a month later or 2 months at the most.

Jimmy Flawless

Hello again everyone. Thanks for the replies to my post. However, we do seem to have digressed a bit with tripawaymars's question.

Let me summarise what I have gathered from the responses so far: Yes it looks like it is possible to travel without the visa sticker theoretically, but in practice it may be more difficult as there may be problems with the airline when checking in.

I would have thought that when providing your passport to the check-in staff, they would look on the system and see that your passport has a valid visa associated with it, and let you on. Is this a reasonable assumption?

Let me just clarify why I am asking this. I myself got the GSM/136 visa about 2 years ago and moved over to Sydney permanently only 8 weeks ago. My girlfriend is currently applying for the same visa and is right at the end of the process (expecting the grant letter any day now). She is a UK passport holder but currently visiting her family in South America and will come straight to Aus. She has a flight booked from Santiago (Chile) to Sydney 2 days before Christmas and will hopefully get here Christmas day. Unfortunately there is no Australian embassy where she is staying - the only one for the whole of South America is in Santiago. Therefore there is some doubt that she will be able to get the sticker in her passport before travelling. Obviously it would be inadvisable to mail her passport anywhere from South America (either to London or Chile) and so a visit to the embassy in Santiago would be the only way of getting the sticker put in.

Of course, if the grant letter doesn't come through in the next few days, all this is academic anyway, and she will have to postpone her flight. Unfortunately, this being the festive time of year the next available flights aren't until Feb at least, and I'd really like to see her for Christmas - I miss her! That's why I was wondering about travelling without getting the sticker - if the worst comes to the worst it might be necessary

JAJ

You should get professional advice from an agent familiar with the London processing culture if you seriously plan this. Try Ian Harrop:
http://www.ianharrop.co.uk