Expert: Roberto Gomes - 1/15/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi!
My wife and I are going for our honeymoon in New Zealand. We are flying stand by and therefore may have to fly threw Sydney.

We plan to catch the first available flight from Sydney to New Zealand.
We have the Sydney-Auckland tickets but the date is not mentioned (since they are stand by tickets).

My Q is: Will Australian transit visa be enough for us? I couldn't get any answer from any Australian authority.

Thanks!
Asaf.

ANSWER: Dear Asaf,

I am assuming that both you and your future wife hold an US passport. If not please let me know.

The Australian transit visa is not required provided that you will continuing to a third country by same or connecting aircraft within 8 hours of scheduled time of arrival of inbound aircraft, holding confirmed onward booking and all documents required for next destination and not leaving the airport transit lounge. At Sydney airport overnight stays are not permitted.

Since you have stand-by tickets the best thing do to is to have a visa to avoid any problems.

Best Regards,
R. Gomes

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your answer.
However we are from Israel, therefore our transit visa is for 72 hours, and includes an option to leave the airport, as long as we leave Australia within 72 hours.
Does that change your answer? I understand that "to be on the safest side" we should probably get the regular visa, but in order to save money we're trying to avoid that.
Thanks!
Asaf.

Answer
Dear Asaf,

What will happen if you find all flights full? Remember that stand-by tickets are not endorsable.

You will need to buy tickets to leave for New Zeland. The question now to be considered is "which is cheaper"? A visa or a ticket?

Best Regards,
R. Gomes