TOURIST VISA EXTENSION DURING COVID 19

Is your tourist visa is expiring and are you unable to depart Australia before the visa expiry due to COVID-19?  Here is the step by step procedure for your tourist visa extension.

Step 1 – The first thing to do is to check your visa grant notification for any conditions that are imposed on your visa. If for instance, you have a ‘No Further Stay’ condition this will prevent you from applying for many temporary and permanent visas while you are in Australia. ‘No Further Stay’ conditions include 8503, 8534 and 8535. You can also check the conditions on your visa through VEVO https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/…/c…/check-conditions-online

Step 2 – If you do have a ‘No Further Stay’ condition imposed on your visa then complete Form 1447 https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/form-listing/forms/1447.pdf and email it to nofurtherstaywaiverrequest@homeaffairs.gov.au. Remember to include supporting documents such as your passport, reasons for the waiver, etc. Lodging a waiver request does not mean that you can continue to remain lawfully in Australia. Once your visa expires you become unlawful. The Department of Home Affairs is assessing waiver applications quite quickly so once the waiver request comes through you can proceed to lodge your tourist visa application onshore. If you do not have any conditions that prevent you from lodging an onshore application you can proceed to step 3.

Step 3 – You can log in to ‘Immi Account’ and lodge a new tourist visa application. If you are onshore when lodging the tourist visa application you will automatically be granted a BVA (Bridging Visa A), which will entitle you to remain in Australia while a decision is being made on our tourist visa. The BVA will only be activated once the visa you are on expires. The BVA does not permit you to travel outside Australia and return back. The conditions that were imposed on the initial tourist visa will generally be imposed on the BVA.

Step 4 – Once the tourist visa is granted you can remain in Australia on the tourist visa and need to depart Australia before your tourist visa expires or apply for another visa onshore or you will become unlawful.

If you believe that you will not be able to depart Australia before your current visa expires it is best to plan ahead and apply for another visa as early as possible. The COVID-19 situation is not an excuse for inaction. If your visa has already expired and you have become unlawful it is best to contact the Department of Home Affairs or a Registered Migration Agent as soon as possible. Once you become unlawful you can get a BVE (Bridging Visa E). Becoming unlawful has serious consequences as it will impact on an applicants’ eligibility to apply for most onshore visas, citizenship, etc.
The above information is of a general nature only. There are schedule 1 requirements to be met when applying for visas, which differ based on the visa. There may also be other more beneficial visas that you could be eligible to apply for. If you are unsure about the process then please seek professional immigration advice tailored to your situation.
Preeti D’silva, Registered Migration Agent MARN 0530747, 02 80047911/0415 419 414
Better Life Migration www.betterlifemigration.com
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