visa Australia faqs

Some people wishing to visit Australia for short business visits and tourist visits can apply for a visa online through our site. To do so, you must be a citizen of an eligible country. If you are a citizen of a European country, you can apply for an eVisitor Subclass 651 visa. If you are a citizen of Brunei, Canada, Japan, South Korea, unsecured loans Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, or the United States, you can apply for an Electronic Travel Authority Subclass 976 visa. All other countries are not eligible to apply online for a tourist or short business trip visa.

eVisitor Visas

eVisitor visa application »»

eVisitor visas are a special subclass tourist and business visa for citizens of European countries. People who wish to take a short trip, whether for work, to visit family and friends, or relax can apply online for an eVisitor visa, which is valid for three months within a 12-month period. Once approved, an eVisitor visa is automatically linked to you passport so airlines and airport officials will know immediately bad credit loans that you hold an eVisitor visa. Not other documentation is needed. When bringing family to Australia, keep in mind that separate eVisitor applications are required for each family member. Applications for an eVisitor visa must be applied for from outside Australia.

Applications can be made directly through the government here. However, once an application has been lodged, corrections cannot be made. By using our website to apply for your eVisitor visa, you can be assured that the information will be entered into the Australian eVisitor system correctly.

Citizens of the following countries are eligible to apply for an eVisitor visa:

• European Union countries
• Andorra
• Iceland
• Lichtenstein
• Monaco
• Norway
• San Marino
• Switzerland
• Vatican City

eVisitor visas have a number of conditions.

Business visitors

With an eVisitor visa you are not able to:

• work in Australia except under very limited circumstances
• take up employment in Australia that can be done by an Australian citizen or resident
• undertake formal study or training in Australia that leads to a primary, secondary or higher education qualification. If you intend to undertake non-formal study in a classroom environment for longer than four weeks, you may be required to have a health examination before starting the course

Business visitor family members

With an eVisitor visa, business visitor family members are not able to:

• work in Australia
• undertake formal study or training in Australia that leads to a primary, secondary or higher education qualification. If you intend to undertake non-formal study in a classroom environment for longer than four weeks, you may be required to have a health examination before starting the course

Tourist visitors

With an eVisitor visa, tourist visitors are not able to:

• work in Australia. Limited volunteer work may be acceptable.
• engage in any studies or training longer than three months
• If you are at least 11 years of age and you intend to study in a class-room environment for a period greater than 4 weeks, you may be required to pass a chest x-ray examination before commencing your studies.
• You must be free from tuberculosis at the time of travel to, and entry into, Australia.
• You must not have any criminal convictions, for which the sentence or sentences (whether served or not) are for a total period of 12 months duration or more, at the time of travel to, and entry into, Australia.

Submission for an eVisitor visa does not guarantee that the visa will be granted. Conditions such as a past criminal offence or other complications can cause an application to be denied.

eVisitor visa application »»

Electronic Travel Authority Visas

An Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) visa is for people who wish to visit Australia for short holidays, tourism, recreation, business trips, and informal studies or training. ETA visas can be aquired quite easily through a travel agency, airline, or an Australian visa office. ETA visas can also be aquired online if you hold a passport from an eligible country.

By completing an application on our site, you can receive an ETA visitor (subclass 976) visa or an ETA business entry short validity (subclass 977) visa if you hold a passport from one of the countries listed below. Verification of receipt of the visa will be made within two business days. It is recommended to apply for the visa two weeks before your intended departure date.

An ETA visa allows a person to visit Australia for up to three months on each visit to Australia within a 12-month period from the date of grant. Like the eVisitor visa outlined above, an ETA visa is electronically linked to the passport number used in the application, so no documentation is needed when arriving in Australia for purpose of entry other than your passport. When bringing family to Australia, keep in mind that separate ETA applications are required for each family member.

Applications can be made directly through the government here. However, once an application has been lodged, corrections cannot be made. By using our website to apply for your ETA visa, you can be assured that the information will be entered into the Electronic Travel Authority System (ETAS) correctly.

We charge a non-refundable fee of GBP 18 for each applicant which includes the government fee and our service. Once we have received notice of confirmation or denial of you visa request, you will be notified by email.

To be granted the visa, you must be outside of Australia and a passport holder of an ETA-eligible country below:

• Brunei
• Canada
• Hong Kong (SAR)
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• South Korea
• USA

Electronic Travel Authority visa application »»

Electronic Travel Authority visas have a number of conditions.

Business visitors

With this visa you are not able to:

• work in Australia except under very limited circumstances
• take up employment in Australia that can be done by an Australian citizen or resident
• undertake formal study or training in Australia that leads to a primary, secondary or higher education qualification. If you intend to undertake non-formal study in a classroom environment for longer than four weeks, you may be required to have a health examination before starting the course

Business visitor family members

With this visa, business visitor family members are not able to:

• work in Australia
• undertake formal study or training in Australia that leads to a primary, secondary or higher education qualification. If you intend to undertake non-formal study in a classroom environment for longer than four weeks, you may be required to have a health examination before starting the course

Tourist visitors

With this visa, tourist visitors are not able to:

• work in Australia. Limited volunteer work may be acceptable.
• engage in any studies or training longer than three months
• If you are at least 11 years of age and you intend to study in a class-room environment for a period greater than 4 weeks, you may be required to pass a chest x-ray examination before commencing your studies.
• You must be free from tuberculosis at the time of travel to, and entry into, Australia.
• You must not have any criminal convictions, for which the sentence or sentences (whether served or not) are for a total period of 12 months duration or more, at the time of travel to, and entry into, Australia.

Submission for an ETA visa does not guarantee that the visa will be granted. Conditions such as a past criminal offence or other complications can cause an application to be denied. Please see our ETA visa FAQ for more details.

licence plate article

  Over the past several years, nationwide attention has focused on using technology to deter terrorism; tighten U.S. borders; and allow local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to share information. However, technology also has allowed police throughout the world to fight street-level crime. In many policing magazines, advertisements abound about technological advancements in internal affairs tracking software, communication hardware, automated fingerprint identification, voice stress analysis, and crime mapping.

One area of technology growing in leaps and bounds, however, has not garnered much attention. License plate recognition (LPR) software and hardware has gone from something only dreamed about in movies to a viable technological tool for local police and sheriff's departments. While certainly not perfect yet, the technology available today can be used to search for vehicles listed in AMBER Alerts, identify those driven by wanted persons, and recover ones reported stolen.

BACKGROUND

Known by many names, LPR technology employs cameras and computer software to discern the letters and numbers of vehicle license plates and then compares them with records contained in state and federal databases. While recognition software (used to "see" the letters of the license plate) has become increasingly more accurate over the past several years, early programs had severely low recognition rates. Initially, cameras used to obtain images of vehicles--and, therefore, license plates--had to be mounted in a fixed location. New technology allows the imaging cameras to be placed on the front or roof of a vehicle or in a patrol unit's light bar. Where LPR technology originally supplemented or replaced other identification devices (e.g., bar codes or radio equipment) to allow access and egress from secure facilities or charge fines or fees for travel or parking, new applications can enable the user to check information against department of motor vehicle or NCIC records.

Initially designed for use in parking lots (to record the time a vehicle entered), for access control (allowing authorized vehicles into a secure area), and for paying tolls, LPR technology recently has expanded into the realms of border control, identification of stolen vehicles, and traffic-fine enforcement (e.g., red-light running), with vendors marketing systems specifically for use by the law enforcement community. Combating auto theft represents a particularly applicable use of LPR technology. Law enforcement agencies throughout the United States constantly seek tools to locate and recover stolen vehicles, with the ultimate goal of making arrests that not only help solve open auto-theft investigations but other crimes as well. For example, crime analysts often track auto theft as a precursor to robberies.

LITERATURE REVIEW

As early as 2000, immigration officials in the United States and Canada began promoting LPR technology and cargo X-ray scanners. (1) In 2005, patrol stations along the U.S.-Mexico border also incorporated the technology to record the entry and exit of vehicles. (2) However, little academic research on LPR technology has occurred in the United States.

One of the most complete studies, conducted during a 4-month evaluation period in 2004, examined the effectiveness of the technology in identifying stolen vehicles and license plates, as well as vehicles driven by wanted felons. (3) While the review of the technology was generally favorable, the report indicated that the software produced over 1.8 million scans during the research period but caused 3,286 alarms, of which 108 were positive (meaning the license plate characters and state matched a valid entry in the computer system). Of particular interest, the study found that the reader could not match stacked or small characters on a license plate. At least one of the companies that produced the technology for LPR claimed that the device could prove instrumental in thwarting terrorist attacks. However, if the system cannot read stacked or small characters (often found on state commercial license plates), this issue becomes moot.

In Europe, the British Home Office also conducted research on the effectiveness of this technology. The pilot study showed that officers using the mobile plate recognition technology produced 100 arrests per officer per year--10 times the national average per officer. (4)

THE TECHNOLOGY

LPR technology involves cameras that feed information into a central processing unit (CPU) that then "reads" the license plate, converts it into optical character recognition (OCR), and then attempts to match it with "hot" plates listed in a state or national database. Currently, the systems usually do not conduct live inquiry into a government database. Instead, users download information daily to keep queries to NCIC and state databases at a minimum. The information is then sent to an agency-supplied mobile data terminal (MDT), usually a laptop. (5)

Types of Units

LPR units come in fixed configurations for mounting on light or sign posts for areas that pose special concerns for particular jurisdictions. Fixed-mount devices require a central dispatch site (possibly also a suitable place to store a central server for the LPR) to verify alarms from multiple locations. This proves crucial because false positive alarms may lead to sending officers on unnecessary calls. The personnel assigned to the fixed LPR conduct confirmation transactions, such as a criminal database check and a visual inspection of the plate photograph. The OCRs currently in use cannot discern license plates from different states or territories and also may read markings on commercial vehicles and confuse them with license plates. Additionally, some fixed-mount units rely on vehicle speeds of less than 35 miles per hour, so selection of an installation point becomes critical. Ideally, agencies should research suitable locations that can cover the traffic present. The more lanes of traffic monitored will require additional fixed-mount devices. LPR cameras typically can perform under low-light conditions, but, in some cases, agencies may encounter an additional cost of lighting the camera site to ensure the accuracy of data collection.

Mobile or portable LPR units also exist that can be mounted on marked or unmarked police, security, or government vehicles. Because of their portability, mobile devices allow for easy transfer from one vehicle to another. Some require installation onto a cruiser's light bar; others use magnets that temporarily attach to the roof. Each system has its applications, but end users should determine which unsecured loans format best suits their needs. The magnet-mounted device seems to work well with undercover tactical units as it can be easily transported and mounted on a variety of vehicles with minimal downtime. The portable system affixed to a marked vehicle's light bar allows consistent camera angles and familiarity with the equipment. In addition, covert devices that can operate in a variety of conditions and applications are now in production.

Data Input and Output

Getting information into the system is critical. Agencies may need the assistance of their criminal justice information administrators to receive daily lists of stolen vehicles, license plates, felony vehicles, and other relevant bad credit loans data. End users should determine a method of delivering that information to the LPR. Stand-alone units will require either a connection to the agency's network or wireless air card. The other option is a dedicated server connected to all devices, whereby information is collected in real time from respective criminal justice networks and then broadcast to the LPR. Because a combination of fixed and portable units could be deployed, the latter choice may prove the best for agencies with the financial resources to purchase both types. In addition, an important feature would be software that permits individual officers during their tour to input license plate information relevant to vehicles of interest. Because witness descriptions vary, the ability to enter partial license plate data would be useful, similar to entering "wild card" characters into the system.

ABI categories

Cat U - Not recorded . Vehicle is not recorded as being damaged or has no/very little damage.

Cat A - Scrap only. A vehicle which should be totally crushed, including all its spare parts bad credit loans .

Cat B - Dismantle Only. A vehicle from which spare parts may be salvaged, but the bodyshell should be crushed and the car should never return to the road.

Cat C - Repairable.

An extensively damaged vehicle which the insurer has decided not to repair, but which can potentially be repaired to a high standard. The vehicle can be safely and economically repaired either by the motor trade or by an enthusiast using cheaper parts and reduced labour costs.

Cat D - Repairable (inc.Stolen/Recovered).

A damaged vehicle that the insurer has decided not to repair, but which can be repaired and returned to the road. The vehicle can be safely and economically repaired either by the motor trade or by an enthusiast using cheaper parts and reduced labour costs. These often have very little damage and are vehicles which have been replaced under ‘new for old’ insurance schemes or settled quickly to minimise hire charges unsecured loans.

Cat F. A vehicle damaged by fire, which the insurer has decided not to repair. 

Categories A and B are write-offs that are unfit for repair and should never be driven again. These include cars that have been very seriously damaged in an accident, and cars that have been immersed in salt water.

Cars in the C, D, F & U categories could potentially be repaired to a sufficiently high standard.

Why not to buy a car or motorbike with no V5 log-book...

...because it's not legally saleable to you. 

1   The V5 log-book is the sellers' PROOF OF OWNERSHIP of their vehicle. 

2   If the seller doesn't have one, they have no proof that they own the vehicle. 

3   Q.    What's the worst that could happen to you?  

A.   Maybe they don't own the car, because it's stolen!  bad credit loans  This happened a few years ago to a good friend of mine, who handed over £3,500 for a VW Golf GTi, and was pulled by the police three days into his ownership... The car was returned to the legal owner, and he never got a penny back. 

A.   Maybe they don't LEGALLY own the car, because it still has hire-purchase payments outstanding from the used-car dealer it was bought from, maybe on five-year terms... You can buy the car, if you don't mind a finance company sending the big, bad repo-man for it at 3a.m.  Or the police pulling you over, and arresting you for receiving stolen goods...

4   If the seller doesn't have the V5, maybe they have honestly lost it, in which case they must realise that the best way forward, for all concerned,  is for them to obtain a replacement from the DVLA, who will still be listing them as the unsecured loans registered keeper.  This will only take a few working days - if they have nothing to hide, what is the rush?    If this is chargeable, isn't it only fair that THE SELLER pay for their failure to keep the V5?  I have - RECENTLY - seen listings stating that "the V5 can be obtained from the DVLA for £19, so remember to budget for this in your bid"... How arrogant is that!  The 'seller', who is on very thin ice, legally, for trying to sell a vehicle they DO NOT HAVE CLEAR TITLE TO, wants YOU to pay for, and deal with, the DVLA, who may well be unsympathetic to your case - particularly as the DVLA have been advising, with every road tax reminder they have sent out for the past couple of years, that YOU SHOULD NOT BUY A CAR IF THE V5 IS NOT PRESENT. 

5    It is now the SELLERS' responsibility to complete and return the V5 to the DVLA.  If the seller doesn't have the V5, how can YOU inform the DVLA?  Well, if you really must buy the car, if it's only an old banger, sorry, 'classic', that you want the glass out of, that you aren't attempting to return to use on the road, you could just keep quiet, take the car, strip it of the parts you want, throw the rest away, and hope for the best.  If you want to use the car again, you can check with the seller that they will happily give you a fully-itemised reciept admitting how long they have owned the car for... It's far easier for the seller to just obtain a replacement V5 from the DVLA.

6    Finally, as a seller, you shouldn't think of letting a car go, without completing the V5, as this is your means of severing your association with it... If that car is involved in an accident, maybe a hit-and-run, who will the police come after?   You!  "Oh, so you sold it did you, sir?"  I bet they've never heard that one before... What about recieving a load of parking tickets? Or baliffs attempting to serve a demand for mounting unpaid fines, from the car being parked on private land, then clamped, towed-away, and kept in a compound.   All this has happened before, and will happen again.

The V5 is there for a reason.  It protects both buyer and seller.  If the seller doesn't have one, don't consider the vehicle as theirs, and certainly not as yours!   Without proper regulation, we have the thin end of the Wedge of Anarchy.

Car Hire Ireland

A car hire in Ireland allows you to tour the Emerald Isle at your own pace. Drive through unique landscapes to uncover magnificent historic buildings and lively coastal towns. unsecured loans Start your holiday with a car hire in Dublin. Visit the castle that stands on a ridge by the River Liffey. Drive your car hire to Donegal, nestled in Ireland's far corner where you can enjoy wide sandy beaches surrounded by rugged mountains. Ireland has a captivating atmosphere which provides you with a great opportunity to slow down the pace and soak up the scenery with your car rental in Ireland. If you pick up your car hire in Cork you can drive the picturesque south coast and visit the famous Blarney Stone or travel to Rosslare, a busy seaside resort.

When driving your car rental in Ireland, keep in mind that many of the rural roads are quite bad credit loans narrow and the rock walls are often closer than they appear to be in review mirrors. It's also important to remember that speed limits and distances are marked in kilometers (except in the counties of Northern Ireland).

The highways of the country offer a faster alternative when driving your car rental in Ireland, but the national roads often present a more scenic route - just make sure you keep an eye out for the occasional herd crossing the road.