Visa

Once you have your "Confirmation of Enrollment" (or COE) then you can apply for your study Visa online at http://www.immi.gov.au . This is a very easy process, most people will get their electronic Visa (or e-Visa) back in 24 hours.

I had two main problems with this. First in filling out the application, I had to be honest and say that I was convicted of a crime because I was. It was a stupid college prank I pulled when I was a sophomore. I stole a street sign. I wrote this on the application and received a letter in the mail that said that I needed to provide the police report from this incident. It took weeks to go through the phone trees and paper work to get this all straightened out. My situation was an exception, but I still suggest that you get this form filled out and submitted as soon as you get your COE in the mail.

The second problem that I was faced with was that the lady at the United counter in Denver could not find our E-Visa's on the system. This was scary because we were departing in four hours and somehow she couldn't find the E-Visa at all. We spent an hour on the phone to the Australian Embassies in Washington DC and Los Angeles. They told us to try again and to have her look in a certain system for the E-Visa. When we reached the counter there was another man there. He found the e-Visa in two minutes. This again is totally just my luck, however I would recommend having everything with you at the check out counter at the airport.

Hopefully you shouldn't run into any trouble, my two instances are the only ones that I heard from dozens of people who went through the first year of Australia student e-Visas. However it is always best to be prepared. One more resource you should check out is http://www.austemb.org

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