Visitor visa (subclass 600)

The purpose of the visitor visa (SC600) is to allow people to travel to Australia for tourism or business purposes, or to visit family, on a temporary basis. The minimum requirements for the Tourist stream of this visa are set out below:

 TOURIST STREAM

For people travelling to Australia for a holiday or to visit family or friends.

As the visa applicant, you must:

  • genuinely intend to visit Australia for a holiday, to see family and/or friends, or for other purposes that are not related to business/work or medical treatment
  • have access to sufficient funds to cover your costs whilst you are in Australia

meet the relevant health and character criteria (this could include a requirement to obtain health insurance for the period of your stay in Australia)

BUSINESS VISITOR STREAM

For people travelling to Australia for short-term business purposes, such as a conference, negotiation or meeting.

As the visa applicant, you must:

  • genuinely intend to visit Australia for an eligible business activity e.g. attending a conference or seminar, participating in a negotiation or exploring a business opportunity
  • have personal attributes and a business background that are relevant to your business activities in Australia
  • have access to sufficient funds to cover your costs whilst you are in Australia

meet the relevant health and character criteria (this could include a requirement to obtain health insurance for the period of your stay in Australia)

SPONSORED FAMILY STREAM

For people travelling to Australia to visit family. Applicants for this visa must be sponsored by an eligible relative who lives in Australia.

Applicant Requirements

As the visa applicant, you must:

  • be sponsored by an eligible relative in Australia (see below)
  • genuinely intend to visit family in Australia
  • have access to sufficient funds to cover your costs whilst you are in Australia
  • meet the relevant health and character criteria (this could include a requirement to obtain health insurance for the period of your stay in Australia)

Sponsor Requirements

The person sponsoring your visit to Australia must:

  • be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
  • be at least 18 years old
  • have been settled in Australia for a reasonable length of time (usually at least 2 years)
  • be a close family member i.e. a spouse/de facto partner, or a parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew (or any of the ‘step’ or adopted equivalents of those relations)

NOTE: In certain cases, an application for this visa MAY instead be sponsored by a Member of Parliament, or an authorised person representing a government department or instrumentality, or a local government mayor.

  • NOT be the sponsor of another visitor whose visa is still valid (unless that person is a member of your family, and you have the same reason for travelling to Australia), and NOT have within the last 5 years sponsored a visitor who breached his/her visa conditions
SECURITY BOND

IF REQUIRED, your sponsor must also pay a security bond (usually between A$5000 and A$15,000). This will be refunded to your sponsor provided you comply with your visa conditions and leave Australia before your visa expires.

You can check your visa expiry date and visa conditions in VEVO, in your visa grant letter.

If you are in Australia on an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA), you can check your ETA expiry and conditions through our Check an ETA service.

I’m in Australia and want to stay longer during the COVID-19

If you are a temporary visa holder in Australia and have not been able to depart Australia as planned, you should apply for a new visa before your current visa expires.

Please note there are limited visa options available if you are already in Australia. You may consider applying to remain in Australia as a visitor unless you are eligible to workstudy or join family in Australia.

If you apply for a new visa, you may be eligible to be granted a bridging visa that will keep you lawful in Australia until a decision is made on your visa application. You may be allowed to work in Australia depending on the visa conditions that apply to your bridging visa.

If your visa has expired, you should immediately apply for a Bridging visa E (BVE). A BVE will keep you lawful in Australia until you are able to make arrangements to leave Australia or finalise your visa options.

Visa conditions

No further stay condition (includes 8503, 8534 and 8535)

If you hold a visa with condition 8503, 8534 or 8535 and have not been able to depart Australia as planned, you can request to waive this condition if your visa will expire in less than 4 weeks.

Condition 8531 (must not remain in Australia beyond the period of stay permitted by the visa)

If you hold a visa with condition 8531 and have not been able to depart Australia as planned, you should apply for a further visa before your current visa expires. If you apply for a new visa you may be eligible to be granted a bridging visa that will keep you lawful in Australia until a decision is made on your visa application.

Condition 8558 (must not stay in Australia for more than 12 months in any 18 month period)

If you hold a visa with condition 8558 and have not been able to depart Australia as planned, you should apply for a further visa before your current visa expires. If you apply for a new visa you may be eligible to be granted a bridging visa that will keep you lawful in Australia until a decision is made on your visa application.

Visa processing arrangements

Some services relating to the visa application process may be impacted by COVID-19 and a range of services we rely on (such as medical checks and biometric collection) are increasingly unavailable. Applicants will be given additional time to complete checks and provide the requested information.

I’m overseas and want to Travel to Australia during COVID-19

If you are not a permanent visa holder, you must comply with current travel restrictions.

Travel restriction exemption

If you think you have a compassionate or compelling reason to travel to Australia, you can apply for an exemption to the travel restriction. Do not travel to Australia until DHA confirm that you can. If you are not granted an exemption, you cannot travel to Australia. All travellers applying for an exemption must apply online. Apply online for a travel exemption.

Extending visitor visas

Visitor visas and ETAs cannot be extended. If your visa expires before you are able to travel to Australia, you will need to apply for a new visa that meets your needs. Explore your visa options. Visa holders who have changed their travel plans due to travel restrictions are not considered eligible for a visa application charge (VAC) refund.

Visa processing arrangements

You should reconsider your need to apply for a Visitor visa or ETA at this time and check this page regularly for updates on travel restrictions and visa processing.

The Department is prioritising processing visa applications for those travellers in the exempt categories to support urgent travel. We encourage applicants to apply online wherever possible, as these applications will be processed faster than those lodged on paper.

You will not be able to apply for an ETA online while the travel restrictions are in place.

Some services relating to the visa application process may be impacted by COVID-19 and a range of services we rely on are increasingly unavailable. This includes overseas panel doctors (who undertake medical checks), English language testing facilities, biometric collection and paper application lodgement centres. While these services are unavailable, many applicants cannot meet visa requirements. Applicants will be given additional time to complete checks and provide the requested information.