Australia Visitor Visa (600) Checklist — Documents, Fees, No Photo Upload
Australia's visitor visa (subclass 600, Tourist stream) is fully online, but it is not a "upload and pay" form: the document list is longer than most eVisas, the fee keeps climbing, and the stay length is not yours to choose. Everything below is verified against the official Home Affairs pages (immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, page last updated 1 July 2026, captured September 2026).
First, three quick facts
- Fee: from AUD 250 — official detail page since 1 July 2026. The charge is indexed every 1 July: AUD 195 (April 2025) → AUD 200 (December 2025) → AUD 250 (from 1 July 2026). Non-refundable even if refused; concessions apply only in limited circumstances. Lodging onshore uses a different, higher fee tier — check the current official price list.
- Stay of 3, 6 or 12 months — decided by the delegate, not chosen by you. The official page says it plainly: "We might grant you a stay of 3, 6 or 12 months." Visa validity and stay length are different things.
- You must be outside Australia when you apply and when it is decided — and there is no extension: staying longer always means a new visa application.
The document list — what Home Affairs actually asks for
- ✅ Passport pages — the photo/bio page plus any pages showing personal details and issue/expiry dates, scanned in colour.
- ✅ National identity card, if you have one — for Chinese applicants this means the 身份证 (front and back, colour).
- ✅ Name-change evidence if applicable — marriage/divorce certificates or change-of-name documents.
- ✅ Money evidence — the official examples: itemised personal bank statements for a 3-month period, pay slips, audited accounts, tax records, term deposits or credit card statements.
- ✅ Visiting family or friends? — an invitation letter covering your relationship, the purpose and length of stay, and whether you will live together; if they are funding you, their financial evidence too.
- ✅ Your plan for the stay — even a simple day-by-day sketch beats a blank.
- ✅ Ties to home — employment letter, school enrolment, immediate family, property or other assets: the genuine-visitor evidence that you will leave.
- ✅ Character documents only if they apply — military service or discharge papers if applicable; a police certificate is requested, never volunteered.
Under-18 applicants: a birth certificate naming both parents (a household register/hukou identity page or court document also works); if the child is not travelling with both parents, custody evidence plus Form 1229 or a statutory declaration from the non-accompanying holder of residence rights; Form 1257 if staying with someone who is not a relative; the 1229 signer also provides ID with photo and signature.
Requesting a longer visa? Say why in the application — parents of Australian citizens or permanent residents add evidence of the child's status (birth certificate or PR proof).
The NOT list — what you do not need (the myths)
- ❌ No digital passport photo. The 600 online application has no photo upload — the passport bio-page scan carries your face data. (Contrast: Vietnam wants a 4 × 6 cm photo, the US wants 2 × 2 inches — see the table below.)
- ❌ No mandatory health insurance. Official wording: you are liable for all your healthcare costs and insurance is "strongly recommended" — not required. The one exception: parents with long stays (see below) must have adequate arrangements.
- ❌ No upfront health examination. "If you didn't have health examinations before you applied for the visa, have them if we tell you to." Only on request.
- ❌ No police certificate unless asked.
- ❌ No certified/notarised copies. Official wording: "You do not need to have any documents certified unless we ask you to."
- ❌ No NAATI requirement for overseas translations. Non-English documents must be translated, and you file original + translation; a translator outside Australia needs no certification but their full name, address, phone and qualifications must be attached in English. (NAATI matters only for translations done inside Australia.)
- ⚠️ Scan rules do matter: colour, clear and legible, and every multi-page document saved as one file.
The photo rule that isn't on the form: biometrics
- Only if asked. "We will let you know if you need to provide biometrics" — it is not a universal step, and it happens after you lodge.
- What they take: a face image plus all 10 fingerprints, at an Australian Biometrics Collection Centre (ABCC) run by VFS Global. Appointment required, passport original in hand, and the centre charges its own service fee on top of the visa charge.
- Where (PRC passports): the official centre list (correct as of March 2026) includes Hong Kong and Seoul but no mainland-China locations. Check the current list and your request letter — Home Affairs' individual instruction wins.
- Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Where a photo is actually required
| Document | Photo needed? |
|---|---|
| Australia visa 600 | None uploaded — passport scan; biometrics in person only if asked |
| US visa | 2 × 2 inches (51 × 51 mm) — spec → |
| Vietnam eVisa | 4 × 6 cm digital — checklist → |
| China visa | physical photos, 33 × 48 mm — spec → |
| Australian passport (renewal) | 35 × 45 mm — spec → |
No visa photo today — but your passport, and any other visa on your itinerary, still follow hard size rules. Check the full photo sizes chart → and the general passport vs visa photo rules →.
Single or multiple entry — and the 8503 trap
The grant comes as single entry (leave Australia and the visa ends) or multiple entry (come and go while it is valid) — again, the Department decides. Three rules catch travellers out:
- No extension exists. "You can't stay in Australia longer by extending this visa. You must apply for another visa in Australia."
- Condition 8503 — No Further Stay. If your visa carries it, you cannot lodge onshore to stay longer; the condition can be waived only in limited circumstances.
- The parents' 12/18 rule. Long-stay parent visits are capped at 12 months total in any 18-month period, and you must have made adequate arrangements for health insurance.
While in Australia you may tour, visit family, take a cruise, and study or train for up to 3 months — work is off-limits.
From documents to boarding pass
- 1. Prepare — the list above; arrange translations (original + translation, one file per document).
- 2. Lodge — ImmiAccount online, pay from AUD 250. Every traveller lodges separately — including a spouse or child listed on your passport — though a family can submit the applications together.
- 3. Biometrics if asked — book the ABCC appointment promptly; take your passport.
- 4. Health examination if asked.
- 5. Wait outside Australia — the official pages do not publish a fixed processing time (defer to the portal notices for your case).
- 6. Read the grant notice carefully — stay months, single vs multiple entry, and whether 8503 is attached.
- 7. Arrive — an Incoming Passenger Card (paper, from your airline) plus SmartGate face gates. The old Digital Passenger Declaration is gone (scrapped in 2023) — ignore guides that still ask for a "DPD".
60-second pre-flight check
- ✅ Passport bio page + detail pages scanned in colour
- ✅ 身份证 scanned (national ID rule applies to you)
- ✅ 3 months of itemised bank statements or equivalent funds evidence
- ✅ Invitation letter + host evidence, if visiting family or friends
- ✅ Ties to home: job letter / enrolment / family / property
- ✅ Non-English documents translated; original + translation as single files
- ✅ Nothing certified, no photo hunted for, no insurance bought out of fear (long-stay parents excepted)
- ✅ Lodged on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au only, fee paid, still outside Australia
- ✅ Biometrics appointment booked — if the Department asked
- ✅ Grant checked: months, entries, 8503?
Passport running low on validity? Many destinations enforce their own minimums before your trip — see the six-month passport rule →. Building a multi-country trip? The Japan checklist (online display only, no printouts) and the US checklist (2 × 2 inch photo, interview required) show how differently each border treats the same traveller.
Sources: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au subclass 600 (Tourist stream) pages — visitor visa details, Gather your documents, biometrics and ABCC country list (page last updated 1 July 2026, captured September 2026 via archive snapshots); official visa pricing notice (price-list data, December 2025 snapshot). Current onshore fee tiers and any post-July-2026 changes: defer to the official pages.