Visa to Australia on compassionate grounds

[AlmostAway]

Posting here for traffic in hope of ideas.

My SIL, DH sister, was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer about four months ago. She has been given just three to six months. It's all very sad. However, DH is beside himself because she lives in Australia. He is an Irish passport holder, but has been asked to pay AU$24k for the tourist visa.

Does anyone have any idea how he might be able to visit her on compassionate grounds? I have checked other visa types to no avail.

Thanks in advance

*Chloemol

Call the Australian embassy and talk to someone
*

Do this.

OP, you are missing a huge piece of information here

@AlmostAway if he has applied for a visitor visa and it has been neither granted or declined then he needs to re-apply. He should not be paying for a visitor visa to Oz. Tell him to contact the embassy directly.

This is confusing. He can stay for up to 3 months on a visa which is about 20£ or $

It’s immediate or very fast

For a tourist visa no. Maybe for a different category of visa.

I’d call the embassy to sort it out. I’m sorry about your SIL

My sister visits her son and her daughter there twice a year and stays 3 months each time, she’s done this for the past 5 years.
Your able to stay for 3 maths on a normal holiday visa.

So what you have been told is definitely wrong.

This is the official Australian website and one we use.

immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-finder/visit. You do not need to go through an agency. You can get a 3 month tourist visa with an Irish passport, free.

It is definitely not a scam. The k is not a typo.
He applied through the same immi website posted above.
The Australian Government can apply whatever restrictions they wish individually for various reasons and they have here
I believe he has spoken to the high commission in London and they weren't in a position to assist any further, but I will check.

I'm really sorry about your sister-in-law.

Please post the link you're using.

If the autrailian government have said that there will have to be a reason.

Aa I said, somewhere along the lines you are missing a huge piece of information.

If it's genuine and they are charging him 24k (which I still struggle to believe) then they obviously know something about him which you don't. Are you sure he is being honest with you? I smell a rat.

Sorry to say in the circumstances but somebody is not being honest here, either you, your DH or the government.

I should add that DC and I were applied for and approved without cost through the same process, it is just him.

When I put in 3 months/Ireland/visiting family and friends it came up with four options, the most expensive of which was 145 Austrian dollars.

He needs to apply again, maybe it's just got lost in the system somehow. Is there no embassy in Dublin?

Has he overstayed in the country before? Because there's no way that anyone should be paying more than $20 for the ETA. There's got to be something in his history that is preventing him from being treated like everyone else. And it must be something reasonably big.

You need to ask him to tell you the truth. Has he shown you the letter explaining why he has to pay more?

Is there some reason he might be rejected you haven't mentioned?

Then, as PP have said, there’s a huge piece of information he is not sharing with you.

The Australian government doesn’t charge £24k for a tourist visa for shits and giggles.

Thank you for all the information on ETAs etc
I wanted a DIFFERENT solution so he can travel to visit his sister if anyone knows one.

There is absolutely no way they would be trying to charge him 24k for no reason. If you aren't aware of the reason then it's something he's not telling you. If he's spoken to people they would have told him the reason they've added this charge, they wouldn't just do it in a random basis.

ETA is the only option really if he is travelling as a visitor, not intending to work and only staying for a short time.

I agree with @spacepyramid something is not right here.

What reason did the Australian government give for charging so much?

How can there be a different solution?

You said the government have decided this. Just because they can and fancied doing it, for no reason and that no one can change it.

There won't be a different solution based on what you have told us - at least not other than the alternative ideas I posted above which you have ignored.

Has he previously visited Australia and overstayed or has he inadvertently applied for a residency Visa or is he currently unemployed leading them to think he'd stay?
Something doesn't add up and as he is Irish it may be worth his while a trip to the embassy in Dublin if the high commission in the UK is being of no help. Lot cheaper than 24k.