Travelling to Australia features on many bucket lists and for good reason. A stunning, expansive land that’s home not just to the Great Barrier Reef and other natural endowments, it also abounds with unlimited education and employment opportunities, making Australia the perfect place to visit, migrate to, work or study in.
Have you always dreamed of making your way to the land down under? If so, here are a few things you should know before you apply for a visa to Australia.
What type of visa do you need?
As with visits to other countries, your visa to Australia will depend on the purpose of your visit. Are you travelling for a picture-perfect holiday? Begin your higher studies in a reputed university? Migrate by yourself or with your family?
Based on your reason for travelling, a visa consultant will be able to advise you on the right type of visa you need and help you begin the application process.
Find an experienced visa consultant
If you’re a first-time traveller or are planning on migrating to Australia, having the support of an experienced visa consultant doesn’t just make this seemingly daunting process easier but also more likely to be more accurate.
Look for a visa consultant with demonstrated qualifications and experience and those who belong to long-established practices. This is so that they can not only tell you exactly what needs to be done but also ensure that your expectations, during this process, are realistic.
At The Visa Centre, we have 21 years of experience helping people get their visa to Australia.
We’re also the only visa consultants who provide holistic education services that don’t stop at visa guidance – we help you throughout the whole process, from identifying the right study opportunities to helping you access the best post-study work experiences or residency pathways.
Moreover, our migration specialists possess expert knowledge on all categories of visas and know which occupations are available for state sponsorship in each state of Australia.
For further support, please call our team on 0777 633 933 (English), 0771 066 388 (Sinhala) or 0777 633 955 (Tamil).
For migration, work or study visas, you will need to sit for the IELTS
If you have more long-term plans in Australia and aren’t just flying in for a trip or visit, you will need to take the IELTS as part of the visa application process. For Australia, scoring a 7 on each band of the test – reading, writing, listening, and speaking – is essential if you want to migrate to the land down under.
For students, the IELTS scores you need will depend on the type of course you’re planning on doing. If it’s a certificate or diploma course, you need to score 5.5 on each band of the test. For bachelor’s degrees, it’s a score of 6 and for post-graduate programmes, you need to score 6.5 on each band.
While the IELTS is known to be challenging, it is not impossible to get the ideal scores for your visa. If you need study support or exam preparation support, particularly the guidance of qualified and experienced English language teachers, contact Unitech; a leading IELTS and PTE-dedicated learning and registration institute in Sri Lanka. It is a British Council registration centre for the IELTS.
Don’t wait for the last minute – apply for your visa with plenty of time to spare
Another thing you need to keep in mind – don’t wait for the last minute to apply for your visa to Australia. If you want to travel in August, for example, apply for your visa at the end of June, the latest.
The Australian embassy in Colombo takes approximately 30 days to process each visa, although urgent cases can be considered by special request. When you apply for your visa, expect that it may tip towards the latter end of the spectrum and leave some time to re-apply for your visa in the event that your first application is rejected – this is a common phenomenon and is one that can be recovered from if the appropriate follow-up action is taken.
Remember that a rejected visa application is not the end of the world
So, your visa was rejected. Now what?
Fortunately, a rejected visa doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t travel to Australia like you planned. While this will depend on the type of visa you’re applying for, you can recover from a rejected visa if you know what to do and don’t waste any time following up with your application.
If you’re not sure what to do and want to improve your chances the second time around, try and consult an experienced visa consultant.
Get your visa to Australia with minimal hassle and delay at The Visa Centre
Contact us today to find out how we can help you begin your journey to the land down under.