Getting your passport
First time out of the country ? your going to need a passport. A good place to start is https://www.passports.gov.au
The thing is, to get a passport, you need identification, starting with a birth certificate. Not an extract, but an original. For that you need to head to your states Birth Deaths and Marriages site. I’m Victorian so for me it was http://online.justice.vic.gov.au.
After completing the form online and paying A$26.60, you also need to verify you are who you say you are. For that you’ll need a photocopy of your divers licence, bank card and Medicare care, signed and verified by a member of the police. Some states allow a Justice of the peace, some don’t, so check the site for details.
When signed by your local cop, the evidence needs to be sent to the Births Deaths and Marriages office to accompany your online application. If all goes well (mine did), about a week later you’ll receive your birth certificate, or first piece of the puzzle.
Being a proponent of all things digital, I headed to the passport site and began the online application. It was only when I reached the end that I realised it would still need to be printed out. Do people really have printers anymore ? I sure don’t.
With that I resorted to the paper based form. It’s also important to know you need to make an appointment with your local Post Office to verify your Passport application.
After having my passport interview and handing over A$208 and waiting a week and a half I had my passport.
