Today I applied for, and was granted, an electronic visitor visa for Australia. I can now book flights to Worldcon. This is a great relief to me.
It does remind me, however, that pretty much everyone traveling to Australia for Worldcon will need a visa of some sort. Getting it is generally very easy. You can apply online, and in most cases they will respond the same day. See here for more information.
Do they have volcanoes in Australia? -)
p.s. plenty of us here in the U.S. want you, too. No one asked US before sending you back at the gate!
unrelated comment– now that I see the color version of the new issue’s cover, I have to say the Kindle version translated very well but still loses a lot without the color.
That’s one benefit of the Kindle app on the iPhone – color.
Yeah, I’ll bet it’s even better on the iPad.
Yayyy. See you there.
Thanks for the reminder – seems Jacob will be going, while I attend Dragoncon. But it makes me wonder, do we need one for our two week trip to London??
Rina: You don’t need a visa to go to the UK because the UK and USA are part of the Visa Waiver Program. Australia doesn’t participate in the Visa Waiver scheme, so you have have to get a visa to go there; they simply have made it an electronic visa system rather than requiring you to send your passport to the nearest consulate with return postage. (I did that in 1985 for a trip to Aussiecon Two that I ended up not taking.)
Of course, that means that if the entry agent at the UK end takes a dislike to you, s/he can boot you the same way the CBP agent did to Cheryl at SFO, and, like her, there is no appeal and no escape. But don’t feel singled out — everyone is vulnerable in this way. Don’t you feel so much safer now? 🙁
No visas to the UK necessary.
Do your revised plans include swinging by NZ? I assume that you are getting to AU via the Far East.
I’m still planning on hitting Wellington as well, though obviously the trip is going to be a lot more expensive now. I need to look at flights, but I think I have QANTAS points that can help.
GO OZ!!!!!
Happy trails to you..oooooo…….
When we went to Australia in 2007 we didn’t realize that it didn’t participate in the visa waiver program. When we checked in at SFO the airline desk attendant applied for our visas right there and they were approved in a matter of seconds. It did cost us an extra $75, though.
Whew! I’m glad I did mine online in advance — much cheaper that way.
I need to look at flights, but I think I have QANTAS points that can help.
Note that if you do MEL-WLG as one transaction, and WLG-MEL as a second, you may get the later in NZ rather than AU prices, which are cheaper. Watch which currency the prices in the flight selection tables are in, this can change during a browser session depending on options made. AKL-WLG flights are still getable for NZD59.
Rock on, Cheryl! 😀 I look forward to seeing you in two countries (neither of which either of us is is a resident of). Whee!
BTW the electronic visa thing seems cool. The airline did it for me. (I dislike trusting a government database, but I figure Oz is smarter about such things than my own, backwards gov is!)