The Australian Passport Office (APO) issued a public notice on 16 January urging travellers to allow at least six weeks between lodging a passport application and the date of departure. Although routine processing times stabilised at about three weeks in late-2025, the APO warns that seasonal surges—especially before Easter and the northern-hemisphere summer—continue to strain its resources. During the March 2025 peak, 28 percent of standard applications breached service standards, forcing thousands of citizens to pay AU $252 for two-day priority service. (visahq.com)
The advisory has immediate implications for global-mobility programmes. Many assignees on Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) and Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional (subclass 494) visas hold Australian passports that will reach the six-month-validity threshold during mid-year project rotations. An expired passport invalidates the linked visa and can derail right-to-work checks, potentially pausing critical projects.
Employers are encouraged to audit passport-expiry data, budget for priority fees where necessary and circulate clear communications to travelling staff. Large mining and construction firms have already scheduled on-site “passport clinics” to capture renewal applications in bulk. Mobility suppliers recommend integrating APO processing times into assignment-timeline templates and using online trackers to give relocating staff real-time status visibility. (visahq.com)
![Australian Passport Office Tells Citizens: Apply Six Weeks Before You Fly]()
VisaHQ can help smooth this workflow. Via its Australian platform (https://www.visahq.com/australia/), the firm consolidates passport-renewal requests, triggers automated expiry alerts and provides real-time APO status updates, enabling employers to sidestep seasonal backlogs and avoid unnecessary priority fees.
The notice also flags destination-specific validity rules—some countries demand nine months’ passport validity—and reminds dual UK-Australian citizens that the United Kingdom’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) comes into force on 25 February 2026. Travellers without a current UK passport will need a costly Certificate of Entitlement to exercise right of abode.
While the APO’s guidance is advisory, ignoring it can translate into flight reticketing, hotel-quarantine costs and missed assignment start dates. Mobility teams should therefore embed the six-week rule into pre-travel checklists and consider automated passport-expiry alerts within HR information systems.
The advisory has immediate implications for global-mobility programmes. Many assignees on Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) and Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional (subclass 494) visas hold Australian passports that will reach the six-month-validity threshold during mid-year project rotations. An expired passport invalidates the linked visa and can derail right-to-work checks, potentially pausing critical projects.
Employers are encouraged to audit passport-expiry data, budget for priority fees where necessary and circulate clear communications to travelling staff. Large mining and construction firms have already scheduled on-site “passport clinics” to capture renewal applications in bulk. Mobility suppliers recommend integrating APO processing times into assignment-timeline templates and using online trackers to give relocating staff real-time status visibility. (visahq.com)
VisaHQ can help smooth this workflow. Via its Australian platform (https://www.visahq.com/australia/), the firm consolidates passport-renewal requests, triggers automated expiry alerts and provides real-time APO status updates, enabling employers to sidestep seasonal backlogs and avoid unnecessary priority fees.
The notice also flags destination-specific validity rules—some countries demand nine months’ passport validity—and reminds dual UK-Australian citizens that the United Kingdom’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) comes into force on 25 February 2026. Travellers without a current UK passport will need a costly Certificate of Entitlement to exercise right of abode.
While the APO’s guidance is advisory, ignoring it can translate into flight reticketing, hotel-quarantine costs and missed assignment start dates. Mobility teams should therefore embed the six-week rule into pre-travel checklists and consider automated passport-expiry alerts within HR information systems.
