Bishop rejects visa on arrival

 By MALUM NALU

AUSTRALIA will not change its policy regarding visas on arrival for Papua New Guineans but will instead pursue the online visa process, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.

Bishop announced that after emerging from separate meetings with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato in Port Moresby yesterday.

Pato welcomed the move and compared it to visa arrangements between New Zealand and Australia.

“Yes, this is a matter I discussed with both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister,” Bishop, the Australian Foreign Minister, told reporters.

“I advised him the Australian government has now offered Papua New Guineans the opportunity to apply for a visa to Australia online before they leave the country.

“All you need is access to a laptop and it can be done by you or a relative, an employer or a third person so that your visa application is processed before you leave the country.”

Bishop said visas on arrival in Australia could prove to be a long wait for Papua New Guineans.

“My concern about visas on arrival is that you then have to stand in line and apply for a visa once you get into the country. And if your visa is rejected, then it’s been the waste of an air ticket,” she said.

“So I think the superior system is online application and this is what we’ve offered to Papua New Guinea.

“It’s the first country that Australia has offered this more sophisticated means of selling a visa.

“And I’ve raised with both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister whether Australia could likewise be able to access an online visa systems with PNG so it’s reciprocal. And we can do it online.

“I think that in the interests of both our countries, it would be better to do it that way, rather than people trying to apply for a visa on arrival.”

Bishop said Australia was looking at ways of streamlining the visa process even more. 

She has been speaking with US experts on technological solutions that could be applied in PNG and Australia.

“What I think is important is that we ensure that the two-way people flows are as easy as possible so that business people, tourists, government officials and those who have interests in our respective countries are able to travel easily and more quickly and not be bogged down in red tape,” she said.

Pato said “our technical people will work to establish a process which will ensure that Papua New Guinea passport holders entering Australia will enter through a process that is compatible, similar to the one that Australia and New Zealand have.

“Our technical people, following the Ministerial Forum in Canberra, have been tasked to make sure that this reciprocal arrangement is facilitated efficiently so that there is ease of travel between the two countries.”