AustralianETA Reviews

App worked well for us. Not sure what our selfie pictures look like (no way to review) but our ETAs were granted within minutes of applying. We found 2 passport apps on the Apple app site where you can practice taking a photo of your passport data page and practice reading the chip on the back page of the passport. Wish they had added practice taking the selfie getting it set within the oval before it takes the picture automatically. It appears that many of the one star reviews are from countries other than the USA. Hope Australia can fix whatever the problem is. I think an online option would help those that don’t have technology skills using an app on a mobile phone.

AustralianETA is actually very solid but has a few problems.

1. When you know the passport is USA, the NFC scan should use copy "Open passport and move phone slowly along the inside of the back cover" (With appropriate graphic). American Airlines does this right. Scanning it the way suggested fails most of the time but is good for non-USA passports.

2. When you know the Applicant is under 2 years old, dial back all the stuff around taking a photo. It is *really* hard to get a 1 year old to hold still, not smile etc.

3. The error message for a failed photo attempt is unhelpful and frustraiting: "Face Image Quality Failed. The Face Image captured doesn't meet the quality requirement. Please Retry." It doesn't say specifically what should be fixed.

4. Location permissions are requested with no explanation toward the end of the flow. Best say something.

Even though I read a plethora of bad and mixed reviews I chose to take my chances and apply for my wife and mine’s ETA Visa’s using AustralianETA vs. the website. AustralianETA took less than 10 minutes per person and we got an instant approval. Also, my wife had started her application on line but before she could finish I received my approval via AustralianETA and then I also did hers via AustralianETA. Could not have been easier and no series of detailed questions like the website. #wehaveNOcomplaints

Why would you move to a new and largely untested system and remove the old website option that always worked (clunky but worked) right after a pandemic where you have not been processing ETAs?
The scanning works ok but the process just hasn’t been thought through. For contact details in Australia I put our rental address but then was mandated to put an Australian phone number. There is no phone at a rental. I’m an Australian with a foreign mobile phone, doing an ETA for my kid. His contact is me. My phone doesn’t start with 61. The old system let me enter my phone. This one mandates a 61 number as if we all have landlines. Please do better and have a backup for an untested system.

I found AustralianETA easy and pleasant to use and it worked perfectly to get the ETA Visa for my family of 4. I was amazed that each Visa was approved within minutes. So fast and efficient.
One tip I think should be added to AustralianETA or FAQs. Only one person in a family needs to download AustralianETA , and you can queue up each person’s info in AustralianETA (using Add Applicant) and then process them all at once. (We first thought each of us needed to download AustralianETA to our individual phones).

On the positive side, although it took a long time to scan my passport, AustralianETA did allow me to get my ETA. Unfortunately, ever since the last update, I have not been able to use AustralianETA . When I start it up, I am immediately asked for a passcode. The only passcode I ever received was to validate my email address. That passcode will not allow me to log in. I was never given or created any other passcode. As a result, I cannot log in. Maybe the next update will fix it.

As an update to my review, the on-line tech support is worthless and the feedback option doesn’t seem to work. Changing my original 2 star rating to 1 star.

This was amazing. AustralianETA was really easy to use and seemed to work well. It’s awesome that it can read the RF chip in a passport and gather the information that way. I especially liked the part where it used my location to make sure I was applying for the visa outside of Australia. The US government should make something similar for renewing a passport. I’m not used to stuff working when it’s built for government use.

The works great but the instructions are incorrect for newer USA passports with chips. The Chips are located in the back cover. After taking the photo of the information page. Flip to the inside back cover and move super slow. I just laid my iphone on the back page and it picked it up. (And his was after about 20 failed attempted trying to scan the front cover.) so just go to the back page and it should work with no issues.

AustralianETA is difficult for senior citizen. It seems like Australia government uses AustralianETA to discourage foreigners to visit her country. We spend whole night to work on AustralianETA , got stuck on self photo taking. The next day morning, a bright sunny morning, I open the window blind and choose a bright white background , and the photo taking went through with only one try. And complete rest of the filling information. Get email of visa granted in 7 minutes.

AustralianETA is pretty nifty in registering for an ETA! It really cuts down the process from the time it used to take to fill everything out. There were some steps that were slightly confusing but there are a lot of resources in AustralianETA that provide thorough explanations. It took me 5 minutes to fill out my information and pay on an iPhone.

When scanning for the passport chip, AustralianETA instructs users to scan the opposite page from the bio page. This is incorrect for US passports. US holders must scan the inside back cover of the passport for AustralianETA to work. After I finally figured this out, I was able to complete the application and it was immediately accepted.

This was really easy to do, I had the ETA in less than 10 minutes. If you can operate a phone, own a passport, have a clean criminal record and know how to take a selfie, you can do this. Don’t understand the rating, this was so easy to use I felt compelled to come back and rate it.

I'm traveling with a friend and we got to the airport and found we had to get the ETA. A helpful gate agent helped us download AustralianETA and we stepped aside and filled out all the info. My application was granted within minutes but my friend's came back with a message: More info needed. The link to provide more info took us to a page that had to be downloaded, filled out, and mailed in which was useless for us, as we were only going to Australia for a week and we were at the airport, ready to get on the plane.

I’m sorry to see that so many people had a hard time with AustralianETA. I had the complete opposite experience. I recommend not being swayed by the negative reviews and giving it a try. The process was quick and easy and I received immediate approval.

Got all my info and now ready to go travel 🤙🏽 less gooo!! 💪🏾 for ppl that Complain about the scan, that’s won’t work. maybe you should get a new phone like iPhone13 cuz works fine with me and got my stuff ready less than 2h!!.. Okay, there bye Felicia.

Just processed visas for my whole family. Took 15 min to do four people, super easy, and no issues. One of our passports is four years old, which I saw others reporting that passports needed to be new to work with app.

We usually pay a company to get us expedited ETAs every visit, but using AustralianETA seems to be the only option now. It took days for mine to get approved and there was never any sort of notification about it being issued (but scanning etc using AustralianETA itself was easy).

I have never been inclined to review an app before - but this worst app I have ever used. It is riddled with glitches that come and go for no apparent reason. I spent 3 hours trying to take my photo. Restarted and magically it worked. Similar issues when trying to enter responses to questions. The Australian government needs a back up for processing this visa type that doesn’t use AustralianETA given how unreliable it is. Your visa shouldn’t be held hostage to a poorly performing app.

I filled this out on an iPad and it went fairly smoothly BUT none of this information migrated to the iPhone app. You can imagine my panic at the airport when, looking at the iPhone app, I saw no record of my existence.

My advice: do this on the iPhone, unless you actually plan to haul out your iPad at the airport.

Does the ETA VISA issue one visa number for the whole family?

1) The video instructions for US passport chip reading are incorrect. My family has a mix of the old/new style passports, and they all scanned on the front or inside cover, not the info page. 2) Reading the chip is super glitchy. It worked instantly on the 3rd try for each passport… so I think it’s a glitch rather than trying to get the chip read correctly.
3) How to handle minors is a mess, and there are zero instructions or resources available on what to do. There are no options to adjust it to a minor, so you have to fill it out as if they are an adult. And good look trying to get a small child to do the photo thing correctly. It took multiple tries with a 3 yr old, Im pretty sure it would be impossible with a kid younger than that.

Overall, this process took an hour to submit 4 visas for my family, with a lot of glitches. The old online process took about 10 min, so I would definitely say AustralianETA is a big step backwards. But we got our visas in the end, so it works.

AustralianETA was a life saver after trying to use the online system and submitting photo after photo. If you can’t take a picture of your passport it will direct you to scan the chip with AustralianETA . This was slightly tricky. Basically just place your phone on your passport image and use the icon indicators at the top of AustralianETA which provides instructions on how to place your phone. For the selfi, sit in from of a white or light color clear wall and follow instructions. I received confirmation of my application being submitted in less than 5 minutes of submitting it through AustralianETA . Thank you developers who made this a much better process!

I was at first a little bit annoyed that this was even an app. Why could it not just be a webpage like it used to be? That said, it did a really good job of using the Phone hardware, from the. NFC reader, and the camera and even GPS. May be a little bit intrusive, but that’s kind of the point of applying for a visa, they are asking for lots of information, so overall it is a fairly efficient process and better than filling out some dumb piece of paper. Took 5-8 minutes. Try that anywhere else in the world.

I watched the video prior to starting the application process and it showed taking your live photo in portrait mode, and to fit the image of your head within the oval. Makes sense. However, when it came to that step, the oval is horizontal and it stretches your face horizontally to fit the oval!! You can turn your device so that the oval is portrait, but the your head is horizontal (landscape). Also it said my face was too far so when I brought my mobile device in closer, the outside lines turned green and immediately captured my face sans forehead and chin, and stretched horizontally. And it doesn’t allow you to review and retake. I looked like a frog! Other than that, it was fairly straightforward and easy.

There is no support for when this doesn’t work - why make an APP the SOLE way to get a visa? It doesn’t make a single bit of sense. Trying to help my dad get a visa for our upcoming travel and all it keeps telling us is "Unable to verify passport information. We were unable to verify the details of the passport. Please check the instructions, watch the video and scan again." There is nothing that explains what the issue is, we’ve used two different iphones (13 & 14), updated OS, etc., and still cannot get past this. When trying to find assistance/checking the website, the other option is a $190 visa? That is absurd when AustralianETA seems to selectively work and is finicky reading chips. Bring back something that doesn’t require finicky tech if it is not stable, like a functional website.

In this version, which was released in early April 2023, you don’t have to use the chip reader! My iPad doesn’t even have that capability, and AustralianETA worked great. The only thing I would mention is that when you go to take your selfie, the camera fires the instant that the oval turns green, and you don’t get to try again or review your picture, you just have to hope for the best. In my case, my ETA application was granted within 3 minutes of my submitting it. No complaints!

Overall AustralianETA is pretty good, straight forward and easy to use. Only issue is when taking the picture, It’s very difficult to hold the phone still. We tried 5, 6 times, no success. I put the phone on a phone holder, and then move my head toward to the phone till the oval line changed to green, hold still. That’s it! One thing I didn’t expect is that a U.S. citizen needs a visa to travel to Australia. ;-)

Bery easy. I like how they sent you videos to watch. Hardest part was scanning the chip in the passports. For USA they were in the back cover but my fathers was in where they said it would be.

Took less than thirty minutes to do three of them. The one part i almost tripped up on was the questions at the end. The yes button was on the bottom not the top so almost said yes to having a criminal record but luckily realized it in time.

This is a horrible app. I spent hours trying to get it to scan the NFC in my US passport using my iPhone 14 Pro. I watched their instructional video twice to make sure I was doing it correctly. It never worked. I tried it with the other two iPhones in the house (12 & 13). Still didn’t work. Called the department of Home Affairs in Australia and they suggested that I try more iPhones or apply for a tourist visa online, which costs $150 and takes 25 days.

Finally and inexplicably AustralianETA let me bypass the NFC scanning step and complete the process without it. I got my ETA within minutes.

Bottom line? AustralianETA doesn’t work very well and there’s nowhere to go for help. What a mess.

I wasted about an hour trying to take my photo over and over again, getting the same error message that “photo verification failed” or that the image quality wasn’t good enough. Tried with and without glasses, in different light, with different backgrounds, and nothing worked. Finally gave up and deleted AustralianETA and started over, and it worked on the first try and my visa was granted within minutes!
I did read other users’ reviews that said that an American passport chip is in the BACK cover of the passport, so that was good information.

I used AustralianETA for two ETAs, it took less than 10 minutes with my passport and other needed info on me. The camera automatically takes the picture for you and will give you feedback immediately if the photo is not good enough. Very useful and thankful this process is as efficient as it is. Highly recommend AustralianETA for those visiting Australia

AustralianETA takes a photo during process. It took me three weeks to finally get a successful photo. Tried multiple devices. Range of lighting conditions. Travel agency said they have difficulties sometimes too. I’m guessing the AI was detecting a mismatch vs passport photo. Not sure. My wife got it on first try after my 3 weeks of attempts. I tried again after she did and worked without issue. Maybe something was down last three weeks on receiving end. Anyway, ensure you protect enough time in case it takes a while for success.

All this ap has to do is take a picture of your passport, scan the chip in your passport, enter the information on your passport into a form, take a picture of the applicant and compare it to the picture on the passport, and collect the fee. It accomplishes the entire process automatically and is totally painless to the customer.
An absolute gem. They should require all ap designers travel to Australia just so they would have to use this ap and see what can be accomplished.

I have tried for multiple hours on over 6 different devices to apply for an ETA, which is supposedly an easy and quick process. The scanner is broken, and I keep getting the same message over and over again that my passport details are unverfiable. There is no resource outside of AustralianETA to get your ETA, and if you are having app issues, theres no way to get quick help (or any help at all). I leave for Australia in 2 weeks to visit family I haven’t seen in years, and currently am stuck with no way to get entry into Australia and nobody who will help.

The other visa options are so much more money and take much longer to process. This is not user error- I have scanned my passport successfully with other apps. Whats the deal? Why not provide an actually useful resource? Why not assist people? These reviews must all be fake, or it might just work for some people, but either way there is something weird going on with AustralianETA. If you are considering traveling to Australia, do NOT rely on this service.

So its not that anything was difficult however when it had me “turn on NFC on my phone I ended up in a major online research project to figure out how to do than. Most online information was wrong. Turns out it is on apparently. It would have been nice if there was a link at that point to help you, based on your phone to determine if turning ton was required and if so how to do it. Otherwise AustralianETA worked great.

Chip data capture process may need to be broken down into steps, e.g. 1) using the phone camera position the whole data page inside the red rectangular frame of AustralianETA ( like depositing a check) and adjust position until the frame turns green and wait for the “Ready to Scan” prompt; 2) place the passport on the table and put the phone on top of the data page without holding to keep still. The chip data will be captured and displayed; 3) confirm. If 1) is skipped, AustralianETA may no longer work and may need to Delete and reinstall.

After trying for 10 minutes to fill out a tourist visa form on the Australia government's website - and getting very frustrated and confused. I was told
About AustralianETA. I did 5 applications in the same amount of time I spent on the website!

AustralianETA takes you step by step through the process - it can’t be any easier!

Great app with good text recognition for scanning the passport. One big flaw is the face scanning. I can do the same thing half-a-dozen times in a row and the lat time it randomly worked. It’s also very very tough with children. Having a little less rigorous rules, maybe mentioning eyes if that’s a concern, and definitely less rules for kids, understanding their face is still recognizable. Allowing to switch to rear cameras would also be super helpful for kids.

This application is difficult to work with starting with taking a photo/scanning your passport because of glare. Took me 40 minutes and many many tries to find a spot that was successful. THEN it also took many, many tries to get a successful headshot. Initially, I downloaded to my iPhone which is usually easier to manage than my iPad. Totally unsuccessful. Was finally able to complete the process on my iPad BUT can’t access my approved ETA on my iPhone! WHAT?! Says no applicants to display once I log in to my phone which is the device I will be carrying with me. VERY frustrating experience. App needs work!