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Lodging your visa or citizenship application in Washington
You may lodge your application in the following ways:
1. In person. Please consult our hours of operations and holiday schedule.
2. By mail. Our address is:
Immigration Office, Embassy of Australia
1601 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
We strongly recommend that you choose a delivery service that enables you to track the arrival of your package, such as FedEx, UPS, US Express Mail, etc. This will allow you to confirm the delivery of your application to our office.
In order to ensure the timely delivery of your application to this office, please adhere to the following guidelines:
♦ Please address all correspondance to the "Immigration Office" - if you have your case officer's name, you may attention the envelope to him/her as well. This facilitates the internal delivery of our mail.
♦ Please do NOT send Electronic / Musical cards should with applications as this will delay the delivery of your application from our mailroom to this office.
Important notes regarding permanent migration applicants:
While we understand that you will be submitting a large amount of documents in support of your application for migration, please do not place them in binders or plastic sleeve folders. Keep all doucuments clipped in a single envelope. Please also do not send video tapes or photo albums but rather make a small selection of photographs.
Return of passport and/or original documents once a visa or citizenship decision has been made:
The following two options are available for the return of your documents (passport and other original official document you may have included with your application):
• You may enclose a self-addressed courier airbill with a company or personal account number OR a self-addressed stamped US Express Mail envelope (available for purchase from the US post office). Please ensure that in both cases, you note the tracking number so that you may monitor the return of your documents.
Note: If you have applied for citizenship, please note that we require a 9.5 inches by 8.5 inches envelope to accommodate the return of the certificate.
• If you choose not to provide an envelope for the return of your documents, you will need to complete a credit card authorization form to authorise billing for shipping so that we may return your documents safely and promptly via a traceable method.
Payment of Visa and Citizenship Fees
Most visa and citizenship applications bear an application charge. Please refer to the current charges and fees and the Currency Converter to determine the fee associated with your application.
Please note the following:
• Payment must be submitted in US dollars only. We cannot accept any other currency, including Australian dollars.
• Payment must be in the form of a certified cheque, money order or international bank draft (bankable in the USA) or by credit card. We accept VISA, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club. We do not accept personal cheques.
• Payment must be made payable to the Australian Government.
• Payment must be in the correct amount (eg current applicable charge at the time the application is received in the office).
• You may pay the visa or citizenship application charge at another overseas DIAC office or at a DIAC office in Australia. Please include the ORIGINAL receipt when you lodge your application in Washington.
The visa and citizenship application charges are procesing fees which are non-refundable regardless of the outcome of the application.
NOTE: If your payment does not meet ALL of the above conditions, we will contact you (by telephone or email in the first instance) with instructions on how to make an acceptable payment. Your application cannot be considered valid for assessment and processing until payment issues are resolved.
Should you elect to pay with a non-US-issued credit card, this office is not responsible for any conversion bank fees associated with your payment.
Processing Times
Visa Applications:
Our aim is to finalise your applications as soon as we can. We therefore prioritise applications that are complete and urge you to carefully review your application and documents before submitting them to this office.
As changing flights is both inconvenient and expensive, we urge you NOT to make any firm travel plans prior to receiving notice of your visa grant. This office cannot be held responsible for any fees incurred as a result of your having to reschedule or cancel flights.
The following link provides you with our approximate target processing times for different visa classes. Please bear in mind that applications may take less or more time depending on the workload, demand and travel season:
Processing time service standards
Citizenship Applications:
Citizenship by Descent: 3-4 weeks
All other Citizenship applications: 2-4 months