  
我们是两位退休老人，计划明年一二月份与儿子一家一起去澳大利亚和新西兰自助游。本来想国庆前先拿到新西兰签证，然后再办澳大利亚的。没想到申请寄到新西兰驻广州签证中心后，通知我们既然先到澳大利亚就应先申请澳大利亚签证。结果白耽误几天时间，希望大家不要犯同样错误。
10月2号用EMS将申请从深圳寄往广州的澳大利亚签证处，是因为看到澳大利亚大使馆规定节日只放三天假，其实签证处还是在黄金周后的8号来电邮，通知收到申请并将于当天开始审理。结果15号收到获批签证通知，一看是12号批准的。
我们按Chescjlist提交的材料中，值得说明的有：1、48R和54表每人一份，54表中的中文表其实应该用中文填写，表格说明要求一律用英文是不对的。其中兄弟姐妹应尽可能填满，不能怕麻烦只填一个，因为这是我们在国内的根。48R表附了一份澳大利亚初步行程表，是自己做的。2、申请费是每人790元，这不是每份申请的费用。汇款应提前一周通过邮局汇去，不能用银行汇款，因为没有接收账号。
护照除了新旧各一本，还提供了一本旧公务护照复印件，显示曾去过多国出差。
资金证明我们提供了：1、两人银行存折6个月复印件（显示两人退休金合计9千多/月)；2、信用卡近一个月的对账单(额度2万）；3、证券公司的存量证券对账单（6位数）；4、货币基金金额银行网页截图（显示有现金5万）；5、房产证复印件。
其他补充提供的有：1、计划生育光荣证，显示与同行的儿子的关系；2、在艺龙网上做的一份香港-悉尼往返机票订单；3、在捷星买的悉尼-奥克兰特价往返机票（证明需要多次往返签证）；4、太平洋保险公司的境外旅游综合及紧急救援保险单。
最后要介绍的一个经验是最好写一份Covering Letter放在申请最前面，这是我过去为儿子和亲戚们申请出国留学签证的经验。一份好的信，就相当于西方申请读研究生的一篇好Statement（自述）。我这次写的信附在后面，供大家参考：
Visa Office, Australian Consulate-General Guangzhou, China
September 28, 2012
Dear Sirs or Madame,
Here enclosed please find my application for visitor visas for my wife XXX and me. We plan to travel from January 26 to February 14, 2013 in Australia and New Zealand together with our son XXX's family. XXX works at YYY and will have his annual holidays, while his wife XXX is a middle school teacher and will have her winter vocation then. XXX（儿子）will apply for his ETA visa as a Canadian citizen, and XXX（儿媳）has submitted her application otherwise for visitor visas together with her daughter XXX. （说明旅游计划）
Before I retired in September 2000, I had worked in Shenzhen as a senior engineer for 13 years, while my wife had worked as a statistician in Shenzhen for 14 years before she retired in June 2002. Additionally, we have pretty high pensions every month and we have no any financial burden. There is no doubt that we have quite enough financial capability to cover the travel and all the expenses during our stay in Australia as well as in New Zealand.（说明有足够财力）
I used to work at YYY for 10 years, so I had the opportunities to visit a lot of countries, as shown partly by the attached previous passport pages. As for my wife, she has been to Canada twice together with me. We certainly will come back to Shenzhen, where there is our home as well as our son’s family and many other relatives. In addition, we are photography enthusiasts with membership of Shenzhen Senior Photography Society so that we have a lot of good friends and special things here too.（说明我们一定会回来）
In addition to the documents required by the checklist, we also add 1) a copy of the Certificate of Honour for Family Planning which shows the relation of our son XXX to us; 2) round trip air tickets booking information from Hong Kong to Sydney for us as well as our son’s family; 3) round trip e-ticket from Sydney to Auckland for us five; and 4) overseas travel package & emergency assistance insurance policy for us five. We suppose all the information are of help, and will appreciate it very much if our pleasant travel plan could come true owing to your kind grant of our visitor visas.（额外补充提供的材料和表示礼貌）
Sincerely Yours,
XXX
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