Australian Passport Application

As Australia becomes more and more popular amongst expats, applying for an Australian passport is something which a lot of people are looking to do in the future. But what types of passports are available, what is the process for applying for an Australian passport and how much does it all cost?

Before we move on to further detail about the Australian passport system it is worth reminding ourselves that the Australian population has quadrupled over the last 100 years and while many people applying for Australian passport are Australian by birth, more and more people are gaining access to passports because of the time they have lived in the country.

Types of Passport Available

There are a number of different types of Australian passport which include the standard passport, frequent traveller passport, senior's passport, senior's frequent traveller passport, and the diplomatic passport which is only available to a very select number of people. The cost of the various passports will differ and change on a regular basis although senior passports are the cheapest with frequent traveller passports the more expensive.

Applying for a Passport

There are a number of ways in which you can apply for an Australian passport with the main routes involving a visit to your local post office or logging onto the Internet to fill in your basic details upon which documents will be posted to you. However, whichever route you choose to apply for an Australian passport there will be an interview process and supporting documentation required after which time you will then receive an answer to your request.

Overseas Passport Applications

If you are looking to apply for an Australian passport from an overseas location there are many Australian embassies around the world which are able be to assist with the basic paperwork and look towards processing your application. Such is the popularity of Australia that overseas passport applications are becoming more and more popular.

The Australian Immigration Policy

As we suggested above, the Australian population has quadrupled over the last 100 years and while the immigration policy of the current government is fairly "lax", compared to many other countries, there is no doubt it has been tightened over the last few years and is likely to be tightened further. Whether this will seriously impact upon the number of successful Australian passport applications is open to debate, but the days of free uninterrupted entry into and out of Australia have long gone.

Conclusion

The Australian passport application system is fairly straightforward and accommodates a number of different services including postal applications, Internet applications and overseas foreign embassy applications. There is no doubt that the ever-growing population of Australia has assisted significant economic growth over the last 20 years but there are concerns that many skilled overseas workers are taking positions which could in some circumstances be filled by the domestic workforce.

Whether we will see the Australian government clampdown on the number of Australian passports approved remains to be seen but there is pressure from various quarters to rein in the number of immigrants allowed into the country.

Applying for an Australian passport is fairly straightforward and simple as the Australian passport application process is well documented and easy to follow.