How do you get an Australia visitor visa from Pakistan? (2026)

Which Australia visitor visa stream should a Pakistani apply for?

For most trips, the Tourist stream. The Visitor visa (subclass 600) has five streams under the Migration Regulations 1994. Only three are open to someone travelling on a Pakistani passport.

Tourist stream

This stream covers holidays, sightseeing and visiting family or friends. Clause 600.221 of Schedule 2 allows a visit to a parent, spouse, de facto partner, child, brother or sister who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. It also allows any other purpose not related to business or medical treatment. You can apply from Pakistan, or from inside Australia if your current visa allows it.

For a visit to a close relative, the Department can require formal sponsorship and ask for a security. If it does, stricter conditions apply, as explained below.

Business Visitor stream

This stream is for a short business trip: meetings, conferences and negotiations. You must be outside Australia when you apply. Clause 600.242 adds that you must not plan activities that would harm jobs or training for Australians. A Sialkot sports goods exporter meeting a buyer in Sydney fits. A developer doing paid work for a Melbourne client does not.

Sponsored Family stream

This stream suits relatives whose family member in Australia will formally sponsor the visit. The sponsor must be a settled Australian citizen or permanent resident aged at least 18, and the sponsorship must be approved. You apply from outside Australia. Unlike the Tourist stream from Pakistan, a refusal here can go to review.

Streams not open to Pakistani passport holders

The Approved Destination Status stream is only for citizens of China, applying from China, on a tour run by an approved travel agent. The Frequent Traveller stream can give a visa of up to 10 years, with stays of up to 3 months. It is limited to passports listed in a legislative instrument, and the current list names Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam. Pakistan is not on it.

How much does an Australia visitor visa cost from Pakistan?

As of 15 September 2026, the base application charge is AUD 250 if you apply from outside Australia. The figure is in item 1236 of Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations, as amended by the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026. Those changes took effect on 1 July 2026.

The AUD 630 charge applies if you are in Australia when you apply. For a Pakistani visitor, that means asking for a further Tourist stream visa while already there. That is only possible if your current visa does not carry condition 8503.

The charge is set in Australian dollars, so the rupee cost depends on your card’s exchange rate. Rely on the total ImmiAccount shows before you pay, because card surcharges and later changes are not covered here. Health checks, police certificates and translations cost extra where needed.

How long can you stay, and can you work on a visitor visa?

Home Affairs describes the visa as being for visits of 3, 6 or 12 months, and you cannot work. The exact period is set at grant, so your grant notice decides how long you can stay.

No work, limited study

On Tourist and Sponsored Family stream visas, condition 8101 says you must not work in Australia. On Business Visitor visas, condition 8115 allows business visitor activities and nothing more. Condition 8201, imposed on all three streams, stops you studying or training for more than 3 months. A short English course fits; a degree needs a student visa, as the comparison of study destinations explains.

What condition 8503 means

Condition 8503 is often called “no further stay”. After you enter Australia, you are not entitled to be granted a substantive visa, other than a protection visa, while you remain there. In practice, you cannot move to a student, partner or work visa from inside Australia.

Under clauses 600.611 and 600.612, 8503 must be imposed on Sponsored Family visas. It must also be imposed on Tourist visas where the Department required sponsorship. On other Tourist and Business Visitor visas, it may be imposed. If it appears on your grant notice, plan to leave when your stay ends.

Other conditions you may see

• 8531: you must not stay beyond the period your visa allows. It must be imposed on sponsored visits.
• 8558: you must not stay more than 12 months in any 18-month period. It may be imposed on Tourist visas.
• 8501: you must keep adequate health insurance while in Australia. It may also apply to Tourist visas.

What does the genuine visitor requirement mean for Pakistani applicants?

The decision-maker must be satisfied that you genuinely intend a temporary stay for the purpose of your visa. Clause 600.211 points to your compliance with past visas, your intention to comply with this one, and any other relevant matter.

Funds

Clause 600.212 requires adequate means to support yourself, or access to them. No minimum balance is published. What counts is whether the money is plausible for your trip and clearly yours or your sponsor’s. A four-week stay with a brother in Perth needs far less than three months of hotels.

Ties to Pakistan

Ties are the reasons you will come home: a permanent job with approved leave, a business, studies in progress, a spouse and children staying behind, property you manage. A retired parent with a pension, a house in Gujranwala and grandchildren at school in Pakistan tells a different story from a recent graduate without work.

When I review a visitor file, I ask one plain question first: does this trip make sense for this person’s life? If the length, cost and purpose fit your job, income and family, the documents only need to confirm it.

Travel and immigration history

Earlier trips abroad, each followed by an on-time return, help. A past overstay or refusal elsewhere is not automatically fatal, but it must be declared. The Australian High Commission in Pakistan warns that false or misleading information leads to refusal and can make you ineligible for three years. The same honesty rule runs through the UK visit visa guide and the Canada visitor visa guide.

What documents do you need from Pakistan for an Australia visitor visa?

The law sets requirements, not a document list. VFS Global does publish a Pakistan checklist for Tourist and Business Visitor applicants, and the points below follow it. Check the current version before you apply.

Identity and family

Scan every page of your current passport, plus old passport pages with visas or stamps. The checklist asks for a NADRA Family Registration Certificate, or Form B if you have none. If married, add a NADRA marriage certificate or Nikah Nama. It also lists a valid polio vaccination certificate and a recent passport-size photo.

Bank statements in PKR

You need a bank account maintenance letter and statements for the last three months, stamped by the bank. Three months is the minimum shown; a longer history often explains your finances better. Any large credit should have a paper trail, such as a sale deed or a salary transfer.

Employment and leave letter

If employed, include three months of salary slips and a contract or employer letter with your position, income and length of service. Add a leave letter stating the leave period and confirming you will return to work. Your FBR income tax return with your NTN supports the salary figures.

Business registration and FBR records

If self-employed, show the business name, address, activity, registration licence and bank statements. The checklist also asks for a certified copy of your NTN certificate from the Federal Board of Revenue. Recent FBR returns show that the business is active and pays you.

Property and assets

Land and property papers, shares and investments can be added. They support your ties but do not replace income evidence. Many fard and registry papers are in Urdu, so allow time for English translations.

Invitation and sponsor funding

If a relative or friend is paying, the checklist asks for their letter with full name, date of birth, relationship and the period of support. Add their last three months of bank statements and pay slips. For a family visit, include proof of your relative’s status in Australia and the FRC that shows how you are related.

Business visitors, children and older applicants

Business applicants add an invitation from the Australian business, a letter from their Pakistani business and three months of business statements. A child travelling without one or both parents needs consent from the parent staying behind, by statutory declaration or Form 1229. Applicants aged 75 or over are asked for medical insurance covering the whole stay.

How does the Sponsored Family stream and its security bond work?

Your relative in Australia sponsors you, and the Department may ask for a security bond before granting the visa. The bond is requested by an officer authorised under section 269 of the Migration Act 1958.

Under the instrument that sets how visitor applications are made, you apply in ImmiAccount and attach form 1149, the sponsorship form completed with your sponsor. The Tourist and Business Visitor streams use the same online form without that attachment.

Who can sponsor

Under clause 600.232, the sponsor can be a settled Australian citizen or permanent resident aged at least 18 who is your relative. A member of an Australian parliament, a mayor or a government agency can also sponsor. The sponsorship must be approved and still in force at decision time.

The security bond

A bond is not automatic. Clause 600.235 applies only if an authorised officer asks for one, and then it must be lodged before grant. The visa criteria set no fixed amount, so treat any figure you hear as unverified until it appears in the Department’s written request. Read that request closely for the amount, the payment method and the refund terms.

Conditions on a sponsored visit

Conditions 8101 (no work), 8201 (study limit), 8503 (no further stay) and 8531 (no overstay) must all be imposed. A breach damages your immigration record, and where a bond was lodged, it may put that money at risk. The stream suits parents visiting settled children, not anyone who may want to change plans once in Australia.

Do you need a medical exam or police certificate for an Australia visitor visa?

Only if the Department asks. Every applicant must meet the health and character criteria, public interest criteria 4005 and 4001. Not every visitor is asked for a medical or a police certificate.

Health

Home Affairs decides whether examinations are needed in your case. If they are, the request tells you which tests to have and how to arrange them. Do not book tests before you know what is required.

Character and honesty

The form asks about criminal history in every country, and you may be asked for police certificates. Criterion 4020 deals with false or misleading information and bogus documents. Every answer on the form needs to match your evidence.

How do you apply, step by step?

Everything is lodged online. The Australian High Commission in Pakistan says most visas are applied for through ImmiAccount, where you also track your application.

Biometrics in Pakistan

As of 15 September 2026, the High Commission says you no longer need an appointment to give biometrics in Pakistan. Take your passport, photo identification and the biometrics letter from Home Affairs to a collection centre. The High Commission points applicants to the VFS Global website for current centre addresses.

Processing times

Home Affairs publishes a global visa processing times guide for each visa and stream. Check it on the day you apply. I have not quoted a figure because the guide changes and could not be confirmed today. The High Commission says progress enquiries within the published time will not be answered.

1. 1

   Choose the stream that matches your trip

   Use the Tourist stream for holidays and family visits, and the Business Visitor stream for meetings and conferences. Use the Sponsored Family stream only if an eligible relative in Australia will formally sponsor you.

2. 2

   Gather and cross-check your documents

   Collect passport scans, your NADRA FRC, stamped bank statements, job or business evidence, FBR papers and any invitation. Translate Urdu papers into English, and check that dates, names and amounts agree.

3. 3

   Apply and pay in ImmiAccount

   Create an ImmiAccount, complete the Visitor visa application, attach your documents and pay. As of 15 September 2026, the base charge is AUD 250 for an application made outside Australia.

4. 4

   Give biometrics when asked

   If you receive a biometrics letter, take it with your passport and photo identification to a collection centre run by VFS Global. The Australian High Commission says no appointment is needed in Pakistan.

5. 5

   Answer any further requests on time

   The Department may ask for health examinations, police certificates, more information or, for sponsored visits, a security bond. Respond within the time given and upload everything through ImmiAccount.

6. 6

   Wait for the decision, then read the grant notice

   Check the Home Affairs processing times guide and avoid non-refundable bookings until you have a decision. Once granted, read the stay period and every condition, especially 8503, before you travel.

Can you appeal an Australia visitor visa refusal?

Usually not, if you applied from Pakistan in the Tourist or Business Visitor stream. The Administrative Review Tribunal can only review decisions the Migration Act 1958 defines as reviewable.

Sponsored Family refusals

Section 338(5) makes a refusal reviewable where the visa cannot be granted in Australia and the applicant had to be sponsored by an Australian citizen or permanent visa holder. The Sponsored Family stream fits. Under section 347A, the sponsor applies for review, not the applicant. Section 347 generally allows 28 days after notification, and the Tribunal cannot extend it.

Tourist and Business Visitor refusals

A Tourist visa can be granted in Australia, so an offshore refusal does not fit section 338(5). Section 338(2) covers only applications made in Australia, and the Business Visitor stream has no sponsor. From Pakistan, there is generally no merits review in either stream. Your refusal letter says whether review rights exist.

Reapplying

In most cases you can apply again with a new charge. A finding of false or misleading information is different, because it can bar a grant for three years. An unchanged file tends to meet the same result. List each reason in the letter and the evidence that now answers it, as the guide to reading a refusal letter explains.

What goes wrong most often?

Choosing the stream by habit

A trader visiting a Melbourne trade fair on a Tourist application starts in the wrong place. So does a family expecting flexibility from a sponsored visa with 8503 attached. Pick the stream from what you will do, then read its conditions.

Sudden deposits

A statement showing PKR 180,000 a month for a year, then PKR 2,500,000 arriving a week before applying, invites an obvious question. If a large sum genuinely arrived, prove where it came from.

Documents that disagree

The form says four weeks, the invitation says three months, and the leave letter says 20 days. Each mismatch may be innocent. Together, they make the file hard to believe.

Hiding an earlier refusal

Applicants sometimes omit a Canadian, UK or Schengen refusal. The refusal is rarely the real problem. Hiding it can be, because false information carries a three-year consequence.

Paying for a promised result

No one can guarantee an Australian visa. Anyone offering arranged bank statements or job letters puts your future applications at risk. Before you pay any agent, read the guide to checking a visa consultant in Pakistan.

A realistic example

Take a hypothetical applicant, Sana, a 34-year-old bank officer from Faisalabad. She is an illustration, not a real client. Her brother is an Australian citizen in Perth, and she wants to visit for four weeks in December while her husband stays at home.

• Early September. She collects an employer letter with her salary, role and approved leave, three months of salary slips, six months of stamped statements, her FBR return and a polio certificate.
• Mid September. Her brother sends an invitation letter, a copy of his Australian passport and his address. The NADRA FRC shows they are siblings.
• Late September. She applies in the Tourist stream through ImmiAccount and pays AUD 250.
• October. A biometrics letter arrives. She visits a VFS Global collection centre, then waits for the decision before buying flights.

Everything agrees: four weeks on the form, the leave letter and the invitation. The trip is affordable, and her job and family are waiting in Faisalabad.

The version that goes wrong

Now imagine her brother transfers PKR 2,000,000 to her the week before she applies, to “make the balance look stronger”. Her leave is still pending, his letter mentions three months, and she does not declare an old Canadian refusal. She also hopes to find a job sponsor while there, unaware that 8503 may be imposed. None of this is fatal alone. Together, it describes a visitor whose money, purpose and history cannot be relied on.

Key takeaways

Frequently asked questions