[LINK] You have got to be kidding...

[grant at apc.org.au]

On Wed, January 14, 2009 6:31 am, Stilgherrian wrote:
> I'm currently trying to find out the answer to that very question for
> a story for Crikey.com.au ... the official reason is, of course, terse
> to say the least: "SHORT TERM BUSINESS ETA APPLICATION WAS NOT
> APPROVED NO AUTHORITY TO TRAVEL TO AUSTRALIA HELD BY PASSENGER".

Did they submit too late? Were all the T's dotted and the I's crossed? Was
some supporting information missing or not supplied when requested? It's
possible that they expected Australia to be as quick and efficient as many
other countries at allocating short term biz visas (eg: on arrival :)


When hosting an international group meeting here in Australia, we did not
want to run into hassles with immigration and visa allocations. We made
use of information on the Immigration web site, followed process and (as
per info on the website) also arranged to have a designated contact point
in Immigration who knew of our organisation, the meeting and the people
attending. We also ensured that all members attending the meeting knew
what to supply and had it ready to go at the time of application. With a
central coordination point on our end to talk directly with the contact in
Immigration, communications were quick and effective.

Basically, we assumed the worst could happen and used the information in
"the system" to do all we could to weigh the odds in our favour. By doing
a bit of admin leg work, we were able to have all visas issued ahead of
time and with a minimum of fuss.



Of course, this was back two or three years ago when Immigration was MUCH
less overloaded so all bets may be off now :)


Good luck getting the official word out of them. There are some good
people in there but the "mandarin's" & management layer aren't helping.
Applying leverage through your favourite MPs will probably be the
effective way to get reviews performed, information out and possible
change to happen.


Cheers,

Grant


-- 
Grant McHerron
Technical Director - apc.au
grant at apc.org.au
www.apc.org.au