Description
This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales
with numerous contributions by others.
3.3.2 Visas For Australians in other Countries
* Visa requirements for Australians in Britain
[I have heard both that Australians need a visa, and that they don't!
Can anyone who has travelled to the UK recently please comment]
[MJ] They don't at the moment. The Treaty on European Union (commonly
known as the Maastricht treaty) states that the countries of the EU
(EC, EEC, whatever you want to call it) should abolish internal border
checks and adopt a common list of countries requiring visas. Eventually
therefore there is likely to be such a thing as a European visa that
is the same for all European countries. A draft list has been published.
I don't however know which countries are on it. If Australia is, then
Australians will require visas to visit Britain in a couple of years.
If not, they won't, and the visa requirement for France and Spain will
also go away.
* Visa requirements for Australians in the United States
[MJ] It's worth mentioning that for a tourist (B1) visa, the US
has a policy of treating other rich countries _exactly_ the same way
that they treat US citizens. As Australia issues tourist visas for
free, the US issues tourist visas for Australians for free. If Australia
was to charge $15 for visas for Americans, the US would charge $15 for
visas for Australians. If Australia were to drop the visa requirement,
so would the US.
[No guarantee that these are completely up-to-date or accurate]
Visa for the US are as follows:
J-1: Exchange Visitor visa (for students, researchers).
* student J-1, J-2 experience [SD]
I am here at Penn State University to do a PhD. The max amount of
time I was given to do this is 6 years. I applied for a J1 visa so
that my husband would be on a J2, this allows him to apply for a work
permit (which he now has - the application was not as straightforward
as we were led to believe, let me know if you are interested in any
details). Initially I was on funding for 1 year, and as a result our
visas were valid for one year only, even though all my paperwork said I
was accepted into a PhD program of at most 6 years. With my J1 visa
comes a pink form called the IAP-66. This form, not the actual visa is
our permit to reside in the US. The visa is for (re-)entry purposes
only.
My supervisor recently acquired 4 more years of funding for me, so I
got my IAP-66 renewed without any problems, the university took care
of it and it was all done within a week. The visa, however, is another
story. It is not possible to apply for a US visa within the US or even
from Canada! I wouldn't trust Mexico, so the only safe option would be
to go home and re-apply. We want to travel to Canada, Mexico, etc
while we are here, so not having a valid visa is a huge pain!! I have
been assured that with a valid IAP-66 it is trivial to get a new visa.
So when applying people should make sure they have funding for the
entire period that they plan to be in the US, that way both visa and
IAP-66 will be valid and you can travel outside the US during your
stay. When I applied I think it cost A$120, they wanted a letter from
the university that accepted me including financial details and proof
of US$5000 in our bank account. It took about 4 or 5 weeks for the
embassy to process everything.
And yes, when I am done here, I have to go home. I applied in June
1993, and I think the amount of personal funds has gone up to 5400 US
dollars now. This money, plus my University stipend is meant to
support both my husband and myself. They will allow a J2 to work, but
only for their own benefit (to see the country and do other activities
and just to have something to do), but NOT to support a J1. A J1 is
only allowed to work in the job they came to the US for, a student is
allowed to work on campus only (I tutored during my first year here,
officially called a TA - teaching assistant). A J2 can work anywhere
they like, but their visa and work permit are valid only with a valid
J1 IAP-66 form. Another thing to note is that the immigration service
is as changeable as the weather, they change their rules very
frequently.
* postdoc J-1 experience [AN]
I came in on a J-1 for my postdoc at Brown University. Brown organised
my original IAP-66 for my 1-year contract. I took the IAP-66 to the US
consulate in Melbourne, with passport, passport photo, filled in the
appropriate form, paid them money and acquired a J-1 visa for a
year. When my contract was extended for a second year, again, Brown
filled out the IAP-66 form, and I sent it off to Immigration in the
US, together with US$80, and got it validated. I was supposed
to get the actual visa in my passport the next time I went out of the
country. As it happened, I went to Bermuda for Christmas, arriving
late on Dec 23rd, nothing (consulates, etc) was open until after
Boxing Day, when I was due to leave, so I could not get my visa done.
So I just explained this to the person at Immigration (which was
actually done in Bermuda) and that seemed to be ok. When I was next in
Melbourne, I filled in the same form, gave in my passport, a photo,
and another A$158! I was very annoyed about having to pay again, but
as I was told rather rudely, lots of people would be happy to pay a
lot to be able to work in the USA!
J-1 holders are called non-resident aliens.
U.S. Visa Type J-2: For spouse of J-1 holder. A J-2 can work anywhere
they like, but their visa and work permit are valid only with a valid
J1 IAP-66 form.
U.S. Visa Type H-1
An initial h-1 is issued for 3 years, it can be extended for 3 more
years. If you change jobs on an h-1, your new company has to get you a
new one in their name, but the time period does not reset i.e. you
cannot remain in the us more than 6 years after you first get an H-1.
[NF]
U.S. Visa Type L-1 [DS]
L-1 visa a working visa issued to foreign citizens working for U.S.
corporations. They are known as Intercompany Transferee visa and are
typically valid for a period of three years from the date of issue,
although this can usually be extended for an additional 3 years.
Application for an L-1 must be made on your behalf by the employer.
Holders of L-1 status are known as "Non resident Aliens" (charming
name really). I am not sure of the cost of an L-1 as typically it is
paid for by the employer.
Dependents of L-1 holders are recipients of L-2 status. L-2 holders
are not permitted to work.
Approval of an application for L-1 status is dependent on some or
all of the following:
1. Period of employment with the U.S. firm
2. Specific reasons why the beneficiary is uniquely
qualified for the particular task
3. Evidence that the job in question has been advertised
and no suitable applicants found
Any L-1 holder that has travelled outside the U.S. will have
learned that re-entry into the U.S., even with your valid passport
and visa, is near impossible without some additional documentation.
Typically, an L-1 holder will need to carry:
1. The *original*, repeat *original*, petition approval
(I have been asked for this document on each re-entry --
[DS])
2. A letter from the sponsoring employer stating
your continuing employment with the company (signed
notarized and dated within 3 months)
[SW] Unusual. I have been in and out of the US about 4 times in the
last 3 years and they have only asked for the original petition on
the first entry.
[NF] I am here on the L-1 visa, basically for executives or essential
technical personnel on intra-company transfers. For example, I worked
for a company which had offices in Adelaide and Santa Clara and
transferred between the two on the basis of technical knowledge which
I possessed. This is a nice visa to get because you don't have to do
labour certification to get a green card which speeds up the process
somewhat.
Green Card
Basically, you apply, fill in the (what seems like) thousands of
forms, and wait. If you're over here on an H-1 or L-1 visa it's pretty
much a formality (especially with the new H-1's that already have
labour certification). [NF]
Becoming a citizen.
[Entry needed. AN]
* Visa requirements for Australians in France [JB]
Yes, Australians need visas for France. In 1986 (je croix), it might
have been 1987, there were some bombings in Lyons, which were
suspected to have been done by <ethnic-minority> fanatics. In the
midst of the howls of "what is the government doing about it", the
French Govt, in a particularly stupid knee-jerk reaction, brought in a
requirement that visas will be required for all non-EC nationals. (As
if needing a visa ever stopped a terrorist. And the border checks had
long since gone.)
This rule is waived in cases where there is a bi-lateral agreement,
e.g. with New Zealand, and in cases where it was feared to hurt the
tourist trade, e.g. US. As Australia doesn't play footsies about visas
for visitors, we need them to go to France.
French visas are in two flavours:
(a) less than 90 days. These are done over-the-counter here. They cost
FF200 (about $A54). I had to provide a letter for my 19-yo son stating
that we were supporting him financially, etc. Otherwise they would
have wanted bank statement proving he had enough money to live on in
France.
(b) 90 days - 1 yr. To get these I needed:
(i) three interviews at the consulate;
(ii) FF600 ($A162) per person in cash or bank cheques.
(iii) the letter of invitation from the French university
(iv) a letter from Monash saying everything about my status, salary,
travel grants, insurance, etc.
(v) tickets or confirmed itinerary
(vi) a medical certificate, in French, from an approved physician
(only one in Melbourne!) certifying:
A) good health
B) free of TB (X-ray result)
C) free of syphilis (blood test) [the French bureaucracy hasn't
discovered AIDS or hepatitis yet.]
Once I had all these, my application, because it was "pour la
sabbatique" had to be couriered off to Canberra to be "assessed" by
the Scientific & Cultural Attache at the French Embassy. Well it's
all done. Each of the long-term visas set us back about $250 (such
medicals are, rightly, not covered by Medibank.) Fortunately the
consulate staff were very helpful, polite and understanding. The total
time was was nearly two months, largely due to the queuing delays in
waiting for inteviews and medicals.
[MJ] Actually they come in three flavours. If you are going to
France for 6 days or less, they will issue you a 'transit' visa.
It doesn't matter if you write some other reason (eg tourism) on
the form. They will still issue a 'transit' visa. These are significantly
cheaper than the visitors visa. The last time I got one of these it cost
me something like (UK pounds) 6.30. I suspect that they are officially
something like FF50.
* Spain
[MJ] Australians now require visa to visit Spain. This requirement came
in on September 1, 1993. I don't know why.
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