Traveling To Melbourne: A Tip.
Now that I am here and settled into my hotel room, there is something good to know when you plan on visiting Melbourne, Australia...
Airport customs and quarantine is serious business over here.
After you get your passport stamped, you have to collect your luggage and go through customs. Easy enough, right? That's how it typically goes when you visit a country. Well...
Australia takes it an extra step.
Once you hand security your customs card, they tell you which quarantine line you have to go into in order to exit the airport. The person who stamps your passport is the one who marks up the customs card. And they mark it based on when, in their system, it shows you applied for your visitor's visa for the country.
Yes, that's right, you need a visa to visit Australia. It's no big deal. And you can get it from the airport when you check in for your flight to Australia. That's what we did in San Francisco.
However... This method makes for a very time consuming exit from the airport. For them, it's a "red flag" in their system that you may be carrying something illegal.
We had to wait in a small line where no body came and collected us for a few minutes... Even though there were plenty of available agents. Eventually, someone did come and get us... And they took The Husband and I rather than the guy who was standing ahead of us in line.
We had our bags go through the X-ray machine. And then the agent asked us for our flight itinerary. He asked us when we booked our flights. I told him that we had done it back in September. He then asked us why we had waited till we checked in for the flight to get a visitor's visa. I told him, "I work for a travel company. I knew you could just get one at the airport, rather than go to the consulate."
That answer was fine for him. He then let us go.
But on the table next us was a Chinese man with a HUGE suitcase. In the suitcase were loads of cigarettes and Chinese noodles and other packaged food. The agent he was working with was holding up the cigarettes and telling him, "You have to pay $156 in order to bring these into the country, otherwise I will have to throw them out."
The man didn't understand him, and they went to go find an interpreter. We didn't think he was gonna be able to leave the airport with all his stuff.
Later, when I was talking with my brother-in-law... He was telling me how serious they are in customs and quarantine.
"They asked me if I had any golf or rugby cleats in my bags," he said. "They were worried about any foreign dirt coming in to the country from them."
So, like I said, they are very serious here. Serious, but very nice. We never once felt talked-down to... Which is so unlike some American customs agents. They were very straightforward here. They just don't want you bringing any unauthorized food or species in to the country.
So, my advice, people... Apply for the visa once you have your tickets booked to Australia. Don't wait till you get to the airport. Sure, it's easier. But customs can see when you were issued the visa. And it will just mean more time stuck in the airport once you get off of your flight.
Airport customs and quarantine is serious business over here.
After you get your passport stamped, you have to collect your luggage and go through customs. Easy enough, right? That's how it typically goes when you visit a country. Well...
Australia takes it an extra step.
Once you hand security your customs card, they tell you which quarantine line you have to go into in order to exit the airport. The person who stamps your passport is the one who marks up the customs card. And they mark it based on when, in their system, it shows you applied for your visitor's visa for the country.
Yes, that's right, you need a visa to visit Australia. It's no big deal. And you can get it from the airport when you check in for your flight to Australia. That's what we did in San Francisco.
However... This method makes for a very time consuming exit from the airport. For them, it's a "red flag" in their system that you may be carrying something illegal.
We had to wait in a small line where no body came and collected us for a few minutes... Even though there were plenty of available agents. Eventually, someone did come and get us... And they took The Husband and I rather than the guy who was standing ahead of us in line.
We had our bags go through the X-ray machine. And then the agent asked us for our flight itinerary. He asked us when we booked our flights. I told him that we had done it back in September. He then asked us why we had waited till we checked in for the flight to get a visitor's visa. I told him, "I work for a travel company. I knew you could just get one at the airport, rather than go to the consulate."
That answer was fine for him. He then let us go.
But on the table next us was a Chinese man with a HUGE suitcase. In the suitcase were loads of cigarettes and Chinese noodles and other packaged food. The agent he was working with was holding up the cigarettes and telling him, "You have to pay $156 in order to bring these into the country, otherwise I will have to throw them out."
The man didn't understand him, and they went to go find an interpreter. We didn't think he was gonna be able to leave the airport with all his stuff.
Later, when I was talking with my brother-in-law... He was telling me how serious they are in customs and quarantine.
"They asked me if I had any golf or rugby cleats in my bags," he said. "They were worried about any foreign dirt coming in to the country from them."
So, like I said, they are very serious here. Serious, but very nice. We never once felt talked-down to... Which is so unlike some American customs agents. They were very straightforward here. They just don't want you bringing any unauthorized food or species in to the country.
So, my advice, people... Apply for the visa once you have your tickets booked to Australia. Don't wait till you get to the airport. Sure, it's easier. But customs can see when you were issued the visa. And it will just mean more time stuck in the airport once you get off of your flight.
Comments
HaHa!
AmandaDawn, you are correct on the immigration process. My brother-in-law had to prove he would be of use to the country when before he got here. He now works for the government helping register aboriginal children for preschool in the rural and low-income areas outside of Melbourne.