Lucas Meyer
Most visitors who need an Electronic Travel Authority for Australia must apply in one place only: the Australian ETA app. The ETA, subclass 601, is an electronically linked authority for eligible passports that allows visits of up to three months at a time over 12 months, and the Department of Home Affairs directs eligible applicants to the app rather than a web form. The service charge is AUD 20, there is no separate visa application charge, and the application must be made, and granted, while the traveler is outside Australia. This guide sets out who is eligible, how the app process works, and the errors that most often slow an approval down.
Quick Facts: Australia ETA at a Glance
- Visa: Electronic Travel Authority, subclass 601, issued by the Department of Home Affairs.
- How to apply: Through the Australian ETA app only, for holders of ETA-eligible passports.
- Cost: AUD 20 service charge to use the app. There is no other charge payable for an ETA.
- Validity: 12 months from grant, or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. Multiple entry.
- Stay: Up to 3 months each time you enter Australia.
- Where to apply from: Outside Australia. The ETA must also be granted while you are outside Australia.
- Work: Not permitted. The ETA covers tourism, visiting family and friends, and business visitor activities.
- Last checked: November 11, 2026, against the Department of Home Affairs.
Who Must Apply for an ETA Before Flying?
Eligibility follows the passport, not the traveler’s address. The ETA list covers a defined set of passports, including the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong (SAR of China) and Taiwan, together with the United Kingdom and a long list of European passports. A traveler holding one of those passports, visiting for tourism, family or short business visitor purposes, applies for the ETA before departure. A traveler whose passport is not on the list cannot use the app route at all and needs a different visa, usually the Visitor visa, subclass 600, applied for through ImmiAccount.
Two groups should pause before paying the AUD 20. European passport holders may also be eligible for the eVisitor, subclass 651, which is free and applied for online through Home Affairs, so an eligible European should compare the two before choosing the paid app route. Australian citizens, meanwhile, cannot hold an ETA at all: citizens enter on their Australian passport. Travelers comparing pre-departure systems across a longer trip will find the same check-your-passport-first logic in our guide to Kenya’s eTA entry rules, where eligibility and exemptions likewise turn on the document in hand.
Why Is the Application App-Only?
Home Affairs requires ETA applicants with eligible passports to use the Australian ETA app. There is no official ETA web form, and that fact is the single most useful piece of scam protection in the whole process: a website offering to submit an ETA application in a browser form, usually for well over AUD 20, is not the official channel. The app reads the passport, captures the applicant’s details and takes the AUD 20 service charge, and the resulting ETA is stored electronically and linked to the passport number rather than issued as a sticker or a paper document.
Travelers who genuinely cannot use the app are not stranded. Home Affairs directs them to apply for another suitable visa through ImmiAccount instead. What they should not do is hand passport details and a larger fee to a third-party site that promises to work around the app.
How the App Application Works, Step by Step
The mechanics are simple, and most of the risk sits in the details. The applicant downloads the official Australian ETA app, scans or enters the passport details, answers the eligibility and character questions, pays the AUD 20 service charge, and submits. Home Affairs advises that the applicant must be outside Australia both when applying and when the ETA is granted, so the application belongs in the pre-departure checklist, not in a last-minute scramble from the departure hall of an Australian domestic connection.
Each traveler needs their own ETA, including children travelling on their own passports, and each ETA is tied to the specific passport used in the application. That linkage produces the most expensive mistake on this list: an ETA granted against an old passport does not travel to a new one. A renewed passport means a new ETA application, even if the old authority still had months of validity left, because the validity runs to the earlier of 12 months or the linked passport’s expiry.
The Mistakes That Delay Approval
Applying too late
Many ETAs are decided quickly, but quick is not guaranteed, and Home Affairs advises travelers not to finalise travel arrangements until the ETA is granted. Some applications need further assessment, and an application lodged the night before a flight leaves no room for that. Apply as soon as the trip is real, days or weeks ahead, and treat the grant notice, not the submission receipt, as the green light.
Letting the app misread the passport
A scanned passport chip or photographed page can transpose a character, and an ETA linked to a passport number that differs by one digit from the real document is a check-in problem waiting at the airport. After submitting, compare every character of the passport number and every letter of the name on the grant against the passport itself. Fixing a mismatch means contacting Home Affairs or reapplying before travel, which is easy a week out and miserable at the gate.
Using the wrong passport or the wrong route
Dual nationals must apply with, and then travel on, the same eligible passport. Applying on one passport and presenting another at check-in breaks the electronic link the airline needs to see. Equally, travelers with a criminal conviction, or whose purpose falls outside visitor activities, may be pointed by Home Affairs to the Visitor visa instead of the ETA, and forcing the app route anyway only delays the inevitable fuller application.
Paying a copycat site
The official cost is AUD 20, full stop. Sites charging several times that amount are selling a service the traveler does not need, and some are harvesting passport data into the bargain. The app, published by the Department of Home Affairs, is the only store listing to trust.
What the ETA Allows, and What It Does Not
An ETA holder can visit Australia as often as they wish during its 12-month validity, staying up to three months on each entry, for holidays, family visits and business visitor activities such as meetings and conferences. It does not allow work for an Australian employer, and it cannot be extended from inside Australia: a longer stay means a different visa, arranged before the three months run out. The three-month clock restarts with each entry, but it is a visitor pattern the system is built around, not a residence route, and border officers can still ask about plans and funds like anywhere else.
Once the Australian paperwork is settled, the trip planning can begin. Travelers starting in the south will find a gentle first city in our Adelaide travel guide, where the airport, the beach and the wine regions all sit within an easy radius of the centre.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an Australia ETA cost in total?
AUD 20. Home Affairs charges a AUD 20 service charge for using the Australian ETA app, with no visa application charge and no other charge payable for an ETA. Any higher price means a third party is involved.
Can the ETA be applied for on a website?
No. Holders of ETA-eligible passports must apply through the Australian ETA app. Travelers unable to use the app should apply for another suitable visa through ImmiAccount on the Home Affairs site instead.
How long does an ETA last, and how long can each stay be?
The ETA is valid for 12 months from grant or until the linked passport expires, whichever is sooner. It allows multiple entries, with a stay of up to three months each time.
What happens if the passport is renewed after the ETA is granted?
The ETA is linked to the passport used in the application and does not transfer. A new passport requires a new ETA application before travel.
Should flights be booked before the ETA is granted?
Home Affairs advises waiting until the ETA is granted before making travel arrangements. Most applications are straightforward, but some take longer, and the grant, not the submission, is the confirmation that matters.
Can an ETA holder work in Australia?
No. The ETA covers tourism, visiting family and friends, and business visitor activities. Paid work for an Australian employer requires a visa that allows it, such as a working holiday visa for eligible passports.
