PR with evisa that didn't show up for return flight to Aus - has this happened to you?

[leanie]

My family was granted permanent residency last year and we arrived in WA July 2012. Since then my kids got a second passport and I sent the form off to immigration dept so the visa could be linked to new passports. I received nothing back from the immigration dept but could see the visa with vevo with the new passport numbers. We went overseas for the first time since arriving a fortnight ago and my kids used their new passports. We left wa fine but when checking in for our return flight from Kuala Lumpur we were told that one of our two kids did not have a visa and would not be allowed to fly. I was shocked and did not know what to do. We were told to speak to Malaysian airlines but the queue was really long. Luckily after searching through very old emails I had the visa grant letter but it was related to a different passport for my dd. The airline when I shoed them the visa grant letter then took me seriously and sent a telegram to Canberra to see if she could board the plane and I showed them the vevo but they waited for Canberra to respond which was quick and we got the go ahead. It was very stressful, we had twenty mins to get from where you get the boarding passes to our flight including going through passport control, security x 2, a train and then to the gate. Our flight waited for us and we caught our flight home with no immigration problems on arrival.

 

My question is has this happened to anybody else? Who is to blame for the visa not showing up? What can I do to ensure it does not happen in the future?

 

thanks.

[NicF]

When I flew out to Australia after getting my PR I had a similar problem in that the BA check in desk couldn't see my visa. I hadn't changed passports since getting my visa grant though and I had my visa grant letter with me to show the check in people. They ummed and arrhhed for a bit and then decided it would be okay to let me fly. I too had no problems at all at Australian immigration. I have no idea why it happened or who would be to blame but will be making sure I take my visa grant letter with me if and when we go overseas.

 

My OH and kids all have Aussie and UK passports so they never have any issues.

[leanie]

That's pretty freaky NicF but good thing you had the visa grant letter. Malaysia airlines were more strict. My problem though is my kids have dual citizenship and were flying with uk passports, the visa had been granted under nz passport and later transferred to the uk one. I have only vevo to prove the uk passports have the visa but it never occurred to me to print it out etc. I will not go overseas again without more documentation!

[Guest littlesarah]

When I tried to check in for my one-way flight here I had a similar problem; DIAC hadn't cancelled the WHV I'd had 7 years previously and I couldn't be checked in until the airline called Canberra. Thankfully we were travelling business class so had priority through security, but it was rather stressful and I was pretty peeved about the whole thing.