Travel agencies are no more allowed to apply for ETA on behalf of clients.
It is ok to use a tourist visa, if it's for meetings etc, and no employment or remuneration are done.

In vk_flying fox's situation, I think the company should just apply for the right visa. If Australia allows meetings/trainings on tourist visa, then maybe a letter from the company stating the true purpose of travel will be useful?

i see. so what if he gets allowance from the company? since he’s going there for a month, i’d assume he’s gonna get sponsored 🤨

apparently there’s 1 visa specifically for attending training in australia https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getti...0in%20Australia.

yeah such a red flag 🚩 else just conduct training on zoom lol

Unfortunately given the name of Malaysians it'll be extremely unfavorable situation for you considering your age, since the duty is on you to prove and satisfy to Australia Immigration Officer that you do have strong ties to Home Country and are not incentized to "jump aeroplane" (thanks to the bad apples among us most young adults are considered as high risk group).

As you pointed out the typical proofs are either:-
1. Solid evidence of income / career back home as an incentive to return to
2. Strong financial grounds / assets
3. Strong family ties.

You can probably try to leverage your mortgage ownership but since you don't have a job right now it'll also be hard (ie some ppl jump aeroplane to feed home). Can use parents as strong tie but because you have a sibling (PR) in AU, it also increases your likelihood to have family support to stay in AU. Tho if your brothers record are clean (which should be, as a PR) that should neglect itself.

Time frame wise - I don't recall them specifying other than "please submit ASAP or we will reject". If it helps, I submitted mine on 22 Apr and still pending.

There's also option to withdraw applications pending decision from the immigration portal should you choose not to proceed. But yeah, definitely a headaches because of those other Malaysian... All the best.

Edit: one more thing that I see some people do, is to get the PR:Oz citizen to write an invite letter to you, and clearly state duration of stay, commitment to see you thru and return to Malaysia after the trip, and why the reason to invite you over. But of course, whether if house warming and engagement party is strong enough reason for you to travel over is up to officer to decide.

(Disclaimer: not an immigration agent, please seek proper legal advice if needed)

The Philippines are not eligible for 601, so by applying for the 600, due diligence has been done.

Those who are requested to submit documents, don't assume you will be rejected. Be honest and open about your reasons, and they will assess case by case.

@Sadly, submit all your documents, including an invite (or cover letter) by your brother. They are not unreasonable. Despite 3/4 being called for further documents, the majority will get the visa, I think the reject rate is less than 5% of all applications.

I completely forgot about the visa situation when I booked my flight for sept this year. I believe based on my situation, I have a low chance of approval because I'm now driving grab as my part time income while I am also part time studying. Clearly my grab income is not stable and it's relatively low considering that I'm only doing it part time. Any tips to get my ETA approved based on your experiences?

Assets wise pretty ok, but income wise severely lacking. Maybe I should quickly get employed within the next 2 months then reapply after that 😅

Just hoping and praying that I won't have to burn my tickets, really stupid mistake to make, but what to do.

Haha do you remember your 9 digits by heart?

Okok. Am sure you know that your weighted tfn is a product of 11

Just to update, got my 601 approved today after 11 days (or  8 working days). Now just need good flight / hotel deals

Thanks! Let me check it out, been longing to revisit Hong Kong as well. Hasn't been there since Covid-19.
Haven't quite decided yet actually, was initially considering Perth since it's closer to where I am but haven't planned deeper cause of the whole visa uncertainty / upcoming move / work commitments. Need to find dates to apply leave first
For visitor ETA 601? No renewal provisions as far as I'm aware. Mine lapsed in April and I just reapplied for new ETA again. Has to submit everything again cuz I didn't get the 25% chance of instant approval

For now yeah, planning to just catch some breathers while I still can (I'm still based in Malaysia for now). But hard to plan still as there's too much uncertainty due to work commitments hence hasn't penned things down yet. I'll take notes on the Mandurah area!

Give me some places to visit in WA 

I definitely am interested in stargazing. I was initially planning to do it during my Great Ocean Road @ Victoria trip with friend, but was abit tough as we had different priorities and since my friend was bringing me around I didn't want to trouble them! Still on my bucket list.
Thanks for the suggestions!! Haha I don't mind even if you're from the WA Tourism, gives me plenty of headstart already. I was struggling where to start.

I'm applying for my Australian travel visa but i keep getting error message saying:
"Not all required evidence has been provided. The department strongly recommends that all required evidence be provided before submitting to assist in processing the application" 

Ah so it is the typical "we want more information" PDF

After creating the ImmiAccount, er, account, did you then continue on the link in the PDF that says "Click on this link: ETA Form"?

Because if you didn't, you end up on the application pathway for a 600.

Yes the UX and UI for the ETA application for Malaysian's pulled for additional processing is very very bad.

yup, clicked on the link there and then it auto select 601 for me
Sigh, why la they make the process so difficult and stressful 

Also, even if you have one empty category, that warning message will still pop anyway so if you're sure you selected the right 601 and submitted everything just click OK. For Malaysians I think most of us will have "Family Register" empty as we dont have this document unlike China or Indonesia.

Indonesia have Kartu Keluarga. Not sure if they've changed it since then.