Visiting Australia on tourist visa from India

To visit Australia on a tourist visa, you need to get a Visitor Visa for Australia from its High Commission located in Delhi or one of its Consulate Generals, which are located in Mumbai and Chennai. Beginning July 1, 2017, Australia has announced that Australian tourist visa for Indian passport holders can be obtained online. This decision was taken by OZ authorities after they recognized that India was among their top ten sources for tourists. Given that a large number of Indian immigrants live in that country, many of their close relatives or friends go to visit them. Besides that, a lot of Indian tourists visit Australia for leisure. It has got a huge coastline, and most of its large cities are on the coasts. Therefore, beaches and seafood are one of its major attractions. Australia is also popular for its wildlife tourism. Since it is a cricketing nation, Indians would like to go there to watch cricket matches as well. Nightlife is very vibrant in that country and it compares with the US, Canada or any of the countries in Western Europe. rnFor the adventure tourists, it is a godsend, as skiing, snowboarding, trekking, et al are available. Of course, since it is a powerful economy, a lot of business travellers from India go there to attend expos, seminars, business meetings and so on. Australian Tourist Visa is known as the ‘Visitor Visa- subclass 600’. It has replaced Sponsored Family Visitor visa (subclass 679), Tourist visa (subclass 676), Sponsored Business Visitor (Short Stay) visa (subclass 459) and Business (Short Stay) visa (subclass 456). A temporary visa, it has four streams. Tourist stream is for people who want to travel Australia to enjoy a holiday (leisure) or to visit family and friends. When one applies for this visa in Australia, during the time of its decision the individual must be in Down Under. Likewise, if it is applied for outside Australia, the applicant needs to be outside Australia when the visa decision is taken. Business Visitor stream is for people heading to Oz for a short business trip. It could be for attending a seminar, meeting or a negotiation. Here, the individual needs to be outside Australia when applying for it and also when the decision on that person’s visa is being taken. People applying for his visa need to be sponsored by a permanent resident or citizen of Australia who could be asked to provide a bond. One cannot apply for another visa while staying in Australia. Here are the Australian tourist visa requirements: applicants must submit a notarized copy of all pages of their current passports, including the bio-data page, amendments page and back page of the passport.rnIf agents are advising applicants lodges applications on their behalf, Form 956 Advice should be provided by migration agents. Submit the Australia tourist visa form along with the above documents. If applicants want proxies to receive correspondence from the immigration department on their behalf, Form 956 an Appointment should be provided with the payment of the charges of visa application. Alternatively, they should provide certain documents to show that they do not need to pay the charges. In addition, one passport sized photograph taken recently should be attached to the application form. These photographs should have been shot against a plain background. Contact your immigration agent, Consulate or Embassy to know about the Australian tourist visa processing time. If you are planning to Travel to Australia, get in touch with Y-Axis, a consultancy of repute for immigration services, to apply for a tourist visa.