eVisa Information - Applying Australian Visa online

This is the stage when you have received EOI invite; so now you have option of 'Apply Visa' on your Skill-Select EOI page. First of all - congratulation :)! You seem to be on top of World - good, but come down to mother earth now, as we still have to do some running to achieve the final Goal :p

Before you click on 'Apply Visa' button - here's some information on what's waiting for you at the other side of clicking the button to apply visa.

• In the process you will get your TRN (ID for visa process) generated and you will be asked to set a password.
• You will go through many screens of filling up your information, similar to what you did in EOI but this would be on large scale; including information on dependents too.
• When above two things are done, as a last step - you would be required to pay the fees which currently stands at AUD 3060. This can be paid by either Debit or Credit card which is either of Visa, MC, etc. Also, this can be non-Australian card but should have capability to do international transactions and off-course it should have that much limit; so better inquire from your bank if you are not sure about the same.
• There will be acknowledgement mail generated and sent to you with subject like: <File#> - <TRN#> - <Name> - IMMI Acknowledgement of Valid Application Received. This may be received between 0 to 10 days after paying fees. But, this timing is not known to have any effect on processing. Some people have even reported not have even received this acknowledgement mail, but got their PR normally. This mail would have 2 attachments - Acknowledgement and Application Summary. 
• You would now be able to login to eVisa site through this link using your generated TRN and the password you set.
• If the link given above does not work or you don't see the attached documents or some other weird stuff happens in eVisa site - just don't worry! There are tech glitches on this and it will come back to normal after some minutes/hours.
• On the opened eVisa page, you are now required to upload all the documents to support your Visa application; this would include documents to prove you are eligible to apply, documents to support points you declared in EOI, PCC (police clearance certificate), form 80, form 1221, etc. (Description of the same given below) 
• You have to apply within 60 days of receiving invite. Then - after that you can upload docs you are required to. You will be allocated CO within 5 or so weeks then he will ask for missing docs and give you 28 days to provide the same. So you have 60 + 5 w + 28 days to provide pcc and meds from the invite date; and 5w + 28 days to provide all documents from Date of Visa Lodgement. Also even if in given days you are not able to provide PCC or any other docs for that matter - you can ask for extension by providing proof that you have applied for that particular doc and its taking time. They provide the extension - no issues in that.
• These are documents from DIAC that you can refer to see what all you need to upload: 
• Diac 189 checklist 
• Diac 190 checklist 
• Note that you can upload to eVisa page either Original Color Scans or Certified Photocopy Of Originals (but certification stamp should also be color scanned). Certified in India means 'Notarized'; or else where signed and stamped by any person authorized to certify a photocopy as legit. 
• Formats that can be used are: .DOC, .DOCX, .DOT, .XLS, .PPT, .RTF, .TXT, .GIF, .JPG , .BMP, .PDF.
• Most preferred format is PDF; use that. 
• Size limit per file is 5mb; count limit is 60 files. 
• To keep file size under check is to use 96 dpi for images.
• Combine related pages in single PDF file. Like combine passport front and back in single PDF file.
• For additional information and details you can check this DIAC page
• You can use a PDF editor software like PDFill to merge PDF pages.
• Also make sure you upload correct document with correct description - there's no option to edit, delete or even see uploaded document. Once uploaded, you can just see the name of document.
• Below is the indicative list of documents that you can refer to upload to eVisa site (this is NOT comprehensive list necessarily): 

For Main applicant

1) University transcripts

2) University degree cert

3) University_grade_card

4) Assessment_Letter_ACS

5) Higher_sec_school_cert

6) IELTS_TRF certificate

7) Secondary_school_cert

8) Form80 ***

9) Identification_cards(ID cards from different countries)

10) Passport

11) Experience Letter in company Letter head

12) Reference letter(with detail of roles etc) from my managers in stamp paper ,along with it i attached business card of the manager(wherever possible)

13) Payslip for all the companies (at-least few months payslip from each employer,CO generally never asks for entire payslip from each company)

14) Tax details wherever applicable ( e.g. form 16 from India).

15) Company offer letters

16) Promotion letters

17) Appreciation letters

18) Relieving letter

19) PCC*   **

For Secondary applicant (spouse)

1) Evidence of Spouse/relationship , eg. marriage cert

2) College Transcripts/Degree certificate etc

3) Functional English proof****, you can submit a letter from his/her college indicating that the medium of education is English or IELTS with min 4.5 score in each band

4) Passport

5) PCC*  **

6) ID cards (like Drivers license etc)

7) Form 80***

For Kid

1) Passport (both for Travel document and for proof of family)

2) Birth certificate

There are two different headings in the eVisa page.

• Attachments provided
• Documents that you upload appear under 'Attachments provided' in eVisa page.

• Next steps- Documents and its various status that appear under 'Next steps':
• Recommended- Things that you are recommended to load (They are not necessarily required as its a generally generic list and may not apply to you)
• Required- Generally whatever you upload, appear in this list as required.
• Requested - Means CO requires this document to be uploaded by you. Upload the indicated document.
• Received- When the uploaded document is checked by someone (most probably CO) and marked as received (does not mean finalized)
• Met - Means Documents are finalized.
• BF (Brought Forward) or TRIM (The Requirement Is Met) - Means Documents are finalized
• Links on eVisa-
• Character, Evidence of - Form 80 Personal particulars for character assessment -This link comes up automatically - no relation to any activity on eVisa application has been reported for this. This basically means that you need to upload Form 80 for the applicants under which this link has been seen. If you have already uploaded Form 80 earlier (yes, if you already have loaded then also this can appear) - then just ignore this. No action required.
• Organize your health examination - This link should be there under each applicant's name (primary and secondary) once you have lodged your Visa. You need to click on the link which says 'organize your health examination' and fill in the forms which have general questions related to your current and past medical status; once you are done, you can take the print of referral letter generated to take along with your passport and 4 passport sized photographs (for each applicant) when going for medical tests to clinic - which you need to call up listed clinic which your prefer for taking appointment. You 'can' wait to do medical till your CO says so - but its always better to do it before CO allocation as it saves time. For more information on medical status, referral to MOC or medical link problem, go Australia Migration Medical Page.
• Take note that the online medical system was changed in start of Feb 2013 from eHealth to eMedical - difference between these are that now you don't have to select clinic to go to - but just need to fill up forms etc. And take appointment from any clinic and they should be able to search you through your TRN (It's always better to check with them while scheduling appointment that if they are able to see your TRN or not)

Note - eVisa do behave in weird way sometimes - so do not take status change very seriously ;-p. Also - sometimes you would not be able to view uploaded documents in eVisa system, or eVisa status changes and go back to 'application received' from 'in progress' - don't worry, system goes down occasionally; login after sometime - things should be back to normal!

When you are done with all the things at your end after lodging Visa - including uploading all the documents plus PCC and also done with Medicals. Then steps from your side are done, now you wait and wait.

After this - in some time you will be allocated a CO, Case Officer, who will evaluate your case. Timing of allocation of a CO is given on this page on DIAC's website - this keeps on updating as per their current speed  and number of applications they are receiving. If your duration has exceeded this given time frame then you can call up DIAC on this number: 0061 1300 364 613 to ask for CO assignment date/team and if medical are finalized. Generally there's 25-35 min waiting before you get to talk to operator. Also, this number is premium number - meaning it would cost more than local if calling from Australia - and it would cost way more than international if calling from outside Oz. Special international activation might be needed to call this number (alternatively you can use service such as Skype for this for cheaper rates). Operator should ask your personal information to confirm you are who you say you are.

Note - As per DIAC - CO allocation is strictly on base of application date only inside a priority level.

After CO is allocated, s/he would review your case and ask for any missing documents (or the ones s/he is not able to access on his system - yeah, sometimes that also happens) through mail. You can send documents as reply to his/her mail and might also want to attach the same to eVisa page. Depending on your case and his/her speed you should get grant shortly (If all's well) - timeline is different for different cases.

TIP: It is strongly suggested to upload all documents including PCC before CO is assigned. Also, be done with your medicals ASAP (for more reasons, check Australia Immigration Medical page). If you have everything uploaded and done with medicals - it speeds up the processing of your application as CO does not have to wait on your documents or medicals. Its best to NOT to wait for CO to start your PCC and medical process - some agents suggest you do wait for CO, but they are just either playing wrong or playing for themselves - as this WOULD delay your process. Only time you wait for CO before taking those steps - is when you willingly want to delay getting grant. For more information check speeding up  Australia PR visa process.

* PCC - Can be obtained even before lodging Visa. Police clearance certificates (PCC): You will have to provide police clearance from every country where you have lived cumulatively for equal to or more than 1 year in the last 10 years. The PCC is valid for 1 year. Different countries have different ways to get PCC - check here to find out yours; I would suggest to get an idea from the link provided but also do a google search as things can change frequently.

** PCC and MED Date are decider - When you get the grant you need to visit Australia before a date given in the grant letter - this date is generally 1 year + min (Date of PCC or Date of Meds).
For example let's suppose you have following dates:
PCC = 10 Nov 2012

Meds = 20 Dec 2012
Grant = 1 Jan 2013

Now - there can be two things depending on CO - your max entry date (date prior to which you and all dependents in your application need to enter Australia to validate PR) can be either:
1 Jan 2014 - which is 1 year from grant date OR
10 Nov 2013 - which is 1 year from min of (meds or PCC); as PCC was prior to Meds - hence date of PCC would be used.

*** Form 80 is a form for personal particulars. Its not mandatory unless CO asks for the same - and CO may or may not ask an applicant for the same. But it's better to have it filled prior to being asked from CO as its a long form (18 pages) - so, would save time if spend time filling it and resolving any doubt while filling it in the CO-wait-time you have. And if you have already filled it, better upload it then it might help get grant faster - and free up CO for the next applicant.

• To download form 80, use this link.
• You can fill up all of form 80 on computer. 
• You can use Foxit Reader to edit and save the filled form 80.
• You can fill the rest of the pages on computer; just take print of page to be signed, sign it and then scan the same in pdf format. Then you can use a PDF editor software like PDFill to merge the filled form 80 kept in system and the one scanned (in PDF format) page. You are done.

Form 1221 is similar to Form 80 but smaller, sometimes that's asked to - but if you have already uploaded form 80 before CO is assigned - you should not be asked for 1221 as its kind of subset of Form 80.

****Some of the methods to demonstrate functional English language ability include:

• evidence of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of at least an average 4.5 for the four test components (speaking, reading, listening and writing)
• evidence of an Occupational English Test score which is at least equivalent to IELTS 4.5 and the test was relevant to the nominated occupation
• the main applicant’s first language is English and they have a current passport from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland
• evidence that the applicant has been assessed by an AMEP service provider in Australia as having functional English
• evidence the applicant holds a trade, diploma or higher qualification awarded by an institution in or outside Australia which required at least two years full-time study and all instruction was undertaken in English
• evidence the applicant has successfully completed at least one year full-time or equivalent study in Australia for a diploma or higher qualification and all instruction was undertaken in English.

For more on functional English, check this link.

Post a comment below stating how did you like information here; also feel free to post any question or suggestion on any more information you want to be posted.

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