My Australia ETA Mishaps

A short rant regarding my experience with Australia ETA (sigh).

My brother was heading to Australia for a short study period; and he applied for the ETA in November and as expected, his application was rejected. Not only his, his WHOLE batch-mates. Quite a stressful thing for Monash University (Malaysia campus) students who are using ETA for a short 3 months study in the Australia campus. Some booked their accommodation and flight ticket ahead of schedule but the ETA was rejected! It's quite a hassle to reapply because you have to submit extra documentations (eg, medical report) if you are going there for study because they have their own medical panels. I guess this was the first time such of a thing happened where a majority of the class's ETA got rejected. I'm sure many of you have heard that Australia government is more strict on their ETA's now especially to Malaysians because many of them abuse this system to work illegally there. How the Australian ETA works is that you must not overstay for more than 90 days for each entry to Australia. It has be exactly 90 days. Unless you have the money to go out of Australia and come in again from another country (nearest is New Zealand lol). 

I didn't really bother to check my ETA because it was sent to my parent's inbox. My parents reassured me that they checked my name and there was no spelling errors. I trusted them because they are my parents! They are the ones who named me so what chances are there that they can be wrong about my name? 

About 2 weeks before the trip, I accessed the email to print and OMG!!! WHAT A HUGE SPELLING ERROR ON MY NAME. You might say it's not a major error, just the letter a and e disarranged (due to typing error). Can't 100% blame the mistake on anyone. The agent made an error when typing in my name, the Australian government who processed my application also did not noticed the error (they are supposed to compare it with my passport), my parents failed to notice the error and LASTLY me, who should have printed the ETA wayyyy before my trip. I reapplied the ETA last minute and heaved a sigh of relief; or else I have to spend my holidays in Malaysia. 

Little did I know, these ETA will cause me to have trouble at the airport. The authorities saw that I have two ETA's under my name so they held me for investigation. Twice. Once at the Malaysia airport where I have to explain to the supervisor that the previous ETA had a spelling mistake blah blah. When I was exiting Australia, I was held up too. They asked me, "Is this the first time you entered Australia?" I nodded. In their system, I guess they saw that I have two ETAs but they did not realise the spelling error so I have to explain it to them etc. She made a phone call for some verification and phew! 

Oh btw, I'm not sure if their scanner is too sensitive; they detected that I have something in my right knee?? I was like WHATTTT? I don't have any implants or what sort at my knee. 

That's just a tiny part of it. When I was at the Australia immigration, I am supposed to scan my passport. ERROR. The immigration officer asked me to go to the end instead. Being as blur as a sheep, I walked to the end but I WAS CONFUSED. What end? There's nobody there?? I stopped to ask an officer nearby and he guided me in the right direction. Yes, thank you officer. 

I headed towards the immigration counter for processing. The male officer saw me heading towards their direction and he beckoned me to go towards him. I was barely 2 metres near the counter and the lady stopped me.  (alright, I forgot the exact terms she used but it was roughly as below)

Male officer : Hey! Have you tried the e-gate?

Me : Yeah. 

Male : Come on here. 

Lady : No, she didn't! (Wow, she accused me, and mumbled something to him) She did not try the e-gate.

Me : Uhh, I did?

Lady : I saw you walking from another direction. 

Me : Yeah but that does not mean I have not try the e-gate.

Lady : No, you try the e-gate first before coming here. 

Me : I tried to go through the e-gate but there was an error so they asked me to come here instead. 

Lady : No, no, no. You go to the e-gate first.

Me : But I just went there!


She was sure that I wasn't telling the truth. Uhh, did she not get me? My level of English was way to inferior for her understanding? Just because I walked from another direction, she accused me? Did she even see me scanning my passport for 3 times at the scanner? Oh boy, I almost raised my voice because I was getting annoyed at her. 

Finally the male officer calmed her down and he checked my passport. Punched in some alphabets into the computer and I'm good to go. 

Conclusion,  *rolls eyes* . I gonna wait for my ETA to expire before visiting Australia again duh.