Advertisement
Published: September 29th 2015
Edit Blog Post
I was browsing Cebu Pacific one night, about midnight and checked how much return tickets to Sydney is. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw the price! It was only about P13,000 or about $290. I thought hard whether I could afford it or not. I know I have enough money to pay for the fare. But there’s also the visa application, and what I’ll be spending when I get there. I did a quick mental calculation of whether I will do serious damage to my budget if I go to Australia. The pragmatic side of me said “You’ve already been to three countries this year” while the adventurer in me said “You know you’re gonna go to Australia anyway within the next ten years. Cheap tickets like this for a date that soon does not come around that often. If ever you do find tickets as cheap as this the flight dates is probably gonna be a year away and you know how impossible that is given how fickle and impatient you are. Might as well just go now!”
The adventurer won and now I’m booked to go in November. Only about two months away from the day that I bought my plane ticket. The fact that I do not have a visa yet didn’t bother me too much because I’ve already been granted visas to the States, Canada, Japan, etc. I thought I have a very slim chance of getting denied.
Now on to how to apply for a tourist visa.
The Australian Embassy does not accept walk in applicants. All applications are coursed through an agency. And that agency is VFS Global.
http://www.vfsglobal.com/australia/philippines/ I applied for a visitor visa. There a link in their website that will lead you to the application form.
The requirements are simple enough.
1. Filled out application form (Form 1419 for Tourist).
2. Managers Check (P4900 for tourist)
3. Copy of passport with visas and entry and exit stamps.
4. Passport sized photo.
5. Financial documents. I sent my credit card bill, payslips, bank certificate, Income Tax certificate, and Certificate of employment.
The tax certificate and plane tickets are not included in the list of requirements but I included them for good measure. The application form had a checklist and it said certified copy of the passport and visas. I called the agency and they said it’s optional. So I opted not to have it notarized. Why bother if not everyone does it?
Then I went to VFS Global to submit my application. They open at 8AM so I was there before 8AM so I can go to work and not be late after. I was second in line. Fortunately the woman in front of my had a bag. When I claimed my Canada Visa in the same agency a few months ago they made me leave my bag at the baggage counter where they charge an extortionate fee of P100 for leaving your bag there! So I only brought the documents and my wallet. No mobile phones allowed either. The woman who was in front of me did not know this so I got to take her place as first in line and got to the office before 9AM. The visa processing fee is only P739 including the text alert feature.
The following working day (yesterday) after I submitted my forms in VFS, I received an email and text message that my application has been received by the embassy. And today my visa was emailed to me! So it really only took three days instead of one month as their website says. They gave me a one year multiple entry visa!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0323s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Adrian
non-member comment
Visa Application Amount
Hi Sir, I was just curious, so you paid $135 AUD and were given a multiple entry visa? or you paid $1000AUD when you got approved the multiple entry visa? Sorry just needed to clarify that because I heard that it would cost $1000AUD for multiple entry? Thanks!!!