Info about the Australia visa, eTA Canada, and the ESTA

Australia Visa | ETA Canada Visa | ESTA USA Visa

Travelling abroad is truly a joy, but there are also a lot of questions when it comes to travel documents and requirements you need to travel to different destinations. Some of the most popular destinations have different types of visas available for different needs. This includes the USA ESTA, the eTA Canada and the Australia visa. Find out which visa is right for you and what you need to travel abroad

Australia Visa

Many travellers in Great Britain are eager to head back to Australia after a long period of closed borders. Although there are numerous types of visas for Australia, one of the most common is the eVisitor 651. This Australia visa is easy to apply for online, is valid for 1 year and can be used for multiple trips within that year. Once you are in Australia, you can stay for 3 consecutive months at a time. Most travellers meet the requirements for the eVisitor 651 Australia visa, but you can always make sure it is the proper Australia visa for you.

When applying for your Australia visa, make sure that you have only one application pending at a time for each traveller. Australian Home Affairs is rather particular about each traveller only having one visa application pending. It is a common issue for travellers to start an application somewhere, forget about it, then apply for a new visa only to have it denied. This can be because the previous visa has not been finalized and is still pending something at Home Affairs.

The Australia visa is also subject to random checks by the authorities, so sometimes the approval times might take much longer than normal. Many travellers simply apply for a new Australia visa elsewhere, hoping that it will be much faster. Which only ends up in the second application being denied and the first taking much longer.

Canada Visa

Since September 2021, it is possible to travel to Canada for travellers again. There are different types of visas for Canada. The most common is the eTA Canada and generally most travellers qualify for this type of travel authorisation. If you are a UK citizen travelling with a UK passport, there is a good chance you qualify for the eTA Canada.

There is not much difference between a visa and the eTA Canada, and usually the only reason to apply for a visa would be that your travel is a bit different than a standard holiday, or you do not meet specific requirements of the eTA Canada. Some of those reasons could be a stay longer than 6 consecutive months, or working or studying in Canada. In these cases, it is not possibly to apply for an eTA Canada.

The Canada eTA requires you to arrive in Canada through their own airports. If you are travelling to Canada via the USA land borders, you do not need an eTA, but you will have to fill in forms at the particular border you enter to Canada. If you travel to Canada via an airport transit in the USA, you need an ESTA to be able to transit through the USA in addition to the eTA you also need a Canada eTA for Transit to other countries.

ESTA for the USA

Although the USA is itself an important travel destination, it is also necessary to have an ESTA if you want to transit through to other destinations, including Canada and Mexico, and the rest of Latin America. This is the case, even if you are just passing through an American airport to another destination.

The ESTA is the easier and cheaper alternative to a visa, and much like the Australia visa and the Canada eTA, you don’t need to visit any embassies or consulates to apply for one. Like the other two travel authorisations, most UK citizens qualify for the ESTA. The ESTA is valid for two years, and within those 2 years you can travel to the USA as often as you like. Each stay can last for up to 90 days.

Passports in Order

All 3 of these travel authorisations are linked to your passport, so you must make sure your passport is in order. For all three destinations, if your passport expires before the expiration of your travel authorisation, your travel authorisation expires as well. The passport must also be valid for the duration of your stay. Otherwise, you must first apply for a new passport before applying for any of these travel authorisations.

Making sure that you are informed about these details in advance will leave you prepared and ready for a smooth holiday.