Question re entry date.

Once tourist visa has been approved how long before it must be used to enter Australia.

Thanks

NB

ON your visa notice you will see a date where it must be used by.

You visa starts when you arrive in Australia

Edited August 1, 201114 yr by raymp

From memory, you have 3 months to enter.

it depends on the type of visa, 3M, 6M or 12M. For each, the time period for arrival must be before 3M, 6M and 12M respectively.

It's on the notice they sent you. It's on the very first line of the text after: "About your visa"

The last sentence, "you must not arrive after {date}"

Basically for a visa of 'x' months, you have 'x' months to enter. Usually the visa only offers a 3 month period in the country, so for the sake of argument: if you got issued a 3M visa on 2011/06/01, she would have to enter the country before 2011/09/01, at which point she can stay in Australia for up to three months. Even if she enters on 2011/08/31 she can still stay in the country for another 3 months even though she has passed the latest date she could enter the country.

It's very similar to how visas work for us here. Another example, if she got a 6M multi-entry visa she can go to Australia now, and leave within the initial 3 months, and if it is still before the "you must not arrive after" date, she could enter again and effectively get 6 months in Australia.

Clear as mud?

It can be utilised within a couple of days of being issued. It seems to take a couple of days for the immigration computer at the airport to catch up. This was the experience of a friend of mine who travelled the day after the visa was issued. They delayed him until they checked it out.