Getting an Australian Visa
By Jo Alelsto

Would you like to travel to Australia? Have you ever thought of having a great holiday in Australia? Did you ever consider working in the land Down Under? If you do, then you need to know more about the country, its culture, people, and food before you make that major decision of traveling to Australia and obtaining your own Australian visa.

For security reasons, the government of Australia has tightened its visa application processing. This is exactly why Australia has numerous types of visas applicable only to an individual set of reasons for staying there.

Visitors in Australia need to have a travel visa. You will either need an ETA Long-Stay Tourist Visa or Short-Stay Tourist Visa if you wish to go to Australia to visit some friends or relatives, go sightseeing, or indulge in other non-working activities. However if you're traveling to Australia for business purposes then you will need an ETA Short-Stay Business Visa or Long-Validity Business Visa.

You can apply for an Australian ETA over the internet. ETA or Electronic Travel Authority tourist visa is the simplest travel visa and is issued to those who are traveling to Australia for business or tourism purposes for no longer than three months. ETA is an electronic system that substitutes visa labels or stamps in your passport and when approved it is stored digitally to the passport number you supplied during your application. Moreover, you ought to have a passport from an ETA using country in order to be eligible for this system.

Another popular kind of Australian visa is the working holiday visa. To be eligible, you must be between the ages of eighteen to thirty years old, must have a valid passport in an approved country, must have a return ticket or be able to prove that you have enough funds to purchase one and to cover expenses during the first part of your stay. Moreover, you must have no children and your purpose of visit in Australia must not be for education or economic reasons but for travel alone.

If and when you are already issued a working holiday visa then you will be allowed to stay in Australia for no more than twelve months. Moreover with a working holiday visa you can take on temporary employment only and you can not work for more than three months for any one employer. This is to make sure that you do not become too established in one location since the primary purpose of your visit is tourism and not employment. With this kind of Australian visa you are also allowed to study but only for a maximum course period of four months.

You will need to have a student visa if you want to study in Australia for more than four months. In order to qualify for this kind of visa, you must have obtained an offer of a place at an Australian educational institution or college for that matter.

On the other hand, if you are planning to work and live permanently in Australia then you can apply as an immigrant through the Australian General Skilled Migration Program. The program aims to meet skills shortages in Australia by attracting skilled migrants who will be able to make a direct contribution to the economy of the country.

The country's warm climate, rare charm, natural beauty, and fast rising economy makes Australia one of the best places on earth to visit, work, live or set up a business. If you wish to go to Australia then you must obtain the right visa for yourself. However, if you are uncertain which visa you will need then you can visit the website established by the Australian government that can give you a step by step instruction on what you have to do in order to apply for an Australian visa.