Visitor and short-stay visas

Visitor visas

Advice on visitor visas for a holiday, a business trip or a family visit, and on what your visa actually allows once you are here.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

Who these visas are for

Tourists, business visitors and people visiting family

A visitor visa lets you come to Australia for a short time as a tourist, to see family and friends, or to take part in business visitor activities such as meetings, negotiations and conferences. The Visitor visa (subclass 600) is the main one. It is usually granted for a stay of 3, 6 or 12 months, and that period is set by the decision maker rather than chosen by you.

Subclass 600 has five streams, and they differ in where you must be when you apply. The Tourist stream covers holidays and visits to family and friends, and can be applied for in or outside Australia. The Business Visitor stream covers short business visits and must be applied for from outside Australia. The Sponsored Family stream is also offshore only: the visitor is sponsored by a settled Australian citizen or permanent resident who is a relative, or by a parliamentarian, a mayor or a government agency. A security bond may be required before the visa is granted, and a no further stay condition is imposed on every visa in that stream. The Frequent Traveller stream is offshore only and open to holders of passports the Minister specifies; it can be granted for travel over a period of up to ten years, with a three-month stay after each entry. The Approved Destination Status stream is for citizens of the People’s Republic of China applying in China and travelling with an approved tour operator.

Two other visas do much the same job for people whose passports qualify. The Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) and the eVisitor (subclass 651) each allow a stay of three months after each entry, for tourism or business visitor activities, and each permits travel to Australia for twelve months from grant, or, for an ETA, the life of your passport if that is shorter. Both must be applied for from outside Australia: the ETA through the Australian ETA app, the eVisitor online. Neither is open to every nationality, and the list of eligible passports is published by the Department and changes.

Whichever stream you use, the same core question decides it: whether you genuinely intend to stay temporarily for the purpose the visa is granted for. Clause 600.211 directs the decision maker to consider whether you complied with the conditions on your last visa, whether you intend to comply with the conditions on this one, and any other relevant matter. Your ties at home, your reason for travelling and your immigration history all carry weight. There is a separate rule for long stays: under clause 600.215, if granting the visa would allow you to stay in Australia for more than twelve consecutive months on visitor, working holiday, work and holiday or bridging visas, exceptional circumstances must exist. You also need adequate means to support yourself and must meet the health and character requirements.

How we help

Before you apply, and after you arrive

Working out which visa is open to you

We check whether an ETA or eVisitor is available on your passport, which subclass 600 stream fits your reason for travelling and whether you can lawfully apply from inside Australia at all. A past refusal, cancellation or overstay changes the answer, and it is better to know before you lodge.

Making the genuine visitor case

The genuine visitor requirement is a common criterion: it applies whichever stream you use. We help you set out your purpose, your ties at home and how the visit will be funded, and we identify early what in your history will need explaining.

When something changes while you are here

If things change after you arrive we start with your grant notice: whether condition 8503 applies, whether a waiver request is worth making, what you can lawfully apply for onshore and whether a bridging visa would keep you lawful. Our guide to bridging visas explains that last part.

Questions

Visitor visa questions

Can I work on a visitor visa?

No, not for an Australian employer. Which condition says so depends on the visa. The Tourist, Sponsored Family and Approved Destination Status streams of subclass 600 carry condition 8101: the holder must not engage in work in Australia at all. The Business Visitor and Frequent Traveller streams, the ETA and the eVisitor carry condition 8115 instead, which allows no work other than a business visitor activity. A business visitor activity is defined in the Migration Regulations and covers a general business enquiry, negotiating or reviewing a contract, and taking part in a conference, trade fair or seminar you are not paid by the organiser to attend. It does not cover working for or supplying services to an organisation based in Australia, or selling goods or services to the public. Working in breach of a condition can lead to cancellation and can affect later applications. A visitor visa is not a pathway to a work visa: if working here is the aim, the application you need is a different one from the start.

What does no further stay mean?

Condition 8503 is printed on many visitor visas. The Department puts it plainly: a no further stay condition means you cannot apply for most temporary and permanent visas while you are in Australia, whatever happens after you arrive. It can be waived, but only in narrow circumstances. The main ground is that since the visa was granted, compelling and compassionate circumstances have developed over which you had no control and which resulted in a major change to your circumstances. A change you could have prevented is not enough, and not knowing the condition was on your visa is not a reason. There is a separate ground for a holder who genuinely intends to apply for certain skilled or employer-sponsored visas. A request must be in writing. Making one does not itself lift the condition, and the Department’s decision on it is final: the Administrative Review Tribunal cannot review a refusal to waive. If your circumstances change again after a refusal you can ask again, but the new circumstances must be substantially different. Check your grant notice for this condition before you make plans.

Can I apply for another visa while I am in Australia?

It depends on your grant notice and on the visa you want. If condition 8503 applies you cannot, unless it is waived first. If it does not apply, some onshore applications may still be open to you, such as a partner visa in the right circumstances. One route is closed: since 1 July 2024, a person holding a visitor visa in Australia cannot apply for a Student or Student Guardian visa onshore, so studying here means applying from outside Australia. A visitor visa also limits study to three months under condition 8201.

Can I extend my visitor visa?

A visa cannot be extended. Some people can instead apply for a new visitor visa through the Tourist stream while still in Australia, which usually means holding a substantive visa that does not carry condition 8503 and satisfying the genuine visitor requirement again. Repeat stays are not treated as routine: the clause 600.215 rule about stays beyond twelve consecutive months applies to a new grant as much as a first one, and an unsponsored Tourist stream visa may carry condition 8558, which limits you to twelve months in Australia in any period of eighteen months. Applying before your current visa ends matters, because that is what keeps you lawful.

I want my parents to visit for a long stay. What are the options?

The Tourist stream can be granted for a stay of up to twelve months, although shorter periods are common, and it can be applied for in or outside Australia. The Sponsored Family stream lets a settled Australian citizen or permanent resident who is a relative sponsor the visit, but it must be applied for from outside Australia, a security bond may be required, and a no further stay condition is imposed. If the real plan is for a parent to live here rather than visit, that is a different application with very different requirements. Get advice before a visitor visa is lodged on the assumption it can be converted later, because usually it cannot.

How long will my application take?

The Department publishes current processing times for each visitor visa and updates them regularly. We will not print a figure here, because a published number describes applications already decided rather than a commitment about yours. Apply well before you need to travel and avoid unchangeable bookings until the visa is granted.

My visitor visa was refused. What now?

Read the decision record first. It states the reason, whether the decision can be reviewed by the Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 14 October 2024, and who may apply for review, which is not always the applicant. Broadly, a refusal is reviewable where the application was made in Australia. Many refusals decided while the applicant was outside Australia carry no right of merits review at all; the main exception is a sponsored family visit, where it is the Australian relative named in the application, not the applicant, who may apply to the Tribunal. Where review is available the time limit is strict, is stated in the decision record and cannot be extended in migration matters. Our page on visa refusals and cancellations and our guide to what happens after a refusal set out the steps.

What to bring to a first consultation

You do not need all of this to talk to us, but the more we can see, the more useful the first conversation will be.

Your passport, and every Australian visa you have held or applied for, including any refusal or cancellation
If you are already here, your current grant notice and the conditions listed on it
The purpose of the visit, the dates you have in mind and who you are visiting
Evidence of your ties at home: employment, study, property or family responsibilities
Evidence of the funds available for the visit and who is paying
If someone in Australia is sponsoring or inviting you, their details and their visa or citizenship status
If you are onshore and something has changed since your visa was granted, the dates and any documents about it