Get your visitor visa application right the first time. Avoid common mistakes that can delay your application or lead us to refusing your visa application.
If your visa application has all the information and documents we need, you will get a faster outcome. Make sure you check it twice before you submit it.
Tips for a ‘decision-ready’ application
- Include a clear copy of the personal details page of your passport.
- Check you have spelt your name correctly and it matches your name exactly as it appears in your passport. Watch out for autocorrect.
- Provide all the names you have previously been or are currently known by. For further information on proving a name change, see the ‘step by step’ tab on the webpage of the visitor visa you are applying for.
- Outline your reason for travelling to Australia and include details of your plans while you are here. You may want to include an itinerary. If you have urgent, compassionate or compelling reasons for travel, submit evidence to show this.
- Outline your previous travel history (if any) in as much detail as possible.
- Show you intend to return to your home country or usual country of residence. Your reasons to return could include work, family or study. Documents to support this include:
- a current payslip
- a letter from your employer granting you leave from work
- a certificate of enrolment in an educational institution in your home country
- your children’s birth certificates.
- Include a letter sent from your family or friends inviting you to visit, if you are planning to come to Australia to visit them. If you are visiting to support a family member or friend, submit evidence of this, for example, a letter from their doctor.
- Include documents that prove you have enough money to support yourself during your stay in Australia, for example, recent bank statements.
- Submit all the documentation we request for your application, even if you have previously held a visitor visa for Australia.
- If you use an authorised migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person to help with your application, you must tell us. For more information, see
Who can help you with your application. The individual should complete
Form 956 - Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person. You must sign the form before you submit it.
- If you are authorising someone to receive documents from the department on your behalf, they must complete Form 956A Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient.
- Submit English translations of all documents that are in other languages. If your documents have been translated by an Australian translator, include their National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) practitioner number. If the translator is outside Australia, provide their full name, address, phone number and qualifications in the language they are translating from.
- Agree to receive electronic communication from us when you apply for your visa through ImmiAccount. This is the best way to stay updated about your application. It will also help you get a faster visa decision.
If you are under 18, you must supply further documents
- A copy of your birth certificate showing the names of both your parents.
- A copy of the passports of your parents or legal guardians.
- If somebody other than your biological parent(s) is your legal guardian (for example, adoptive parents or a court-appointed guardian), you must provide proof of this.
- If your biological parents or legal guardians are not travelling to Australia with you, they must complete either:
- If you will be staying with someone other than a relative or your legal guardian, they must complete
Form 1257 - Undertaking declaration. Your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) must have nominated the individual(s) to provide accommodation and be responsible for you during your stay in Australia.
