Australia is committed to upholding a universal visa system and to facilitating the movement of people across the Australian border, while protecting the community and maintaining appropriate compliance. The visa requirement provides advantages in terms of border management and security. Visa-free travellers would be disadvantaged compared with travellers who had obtained a visa in advance as they would need to be processed on arrival in Australia. They would experience time delays at immigration clearance while their passport details are recorded, and the purpose of their visit and proposed length of stay in Australia is determined. In addition, they do not have the certainty of entry which pre-visaed visitors enjoy.
Some travel agents do charge a service fee for lodging applications for visas to Australia.
However, they also charge a fee for lodging visa waiver applications for travel to visa-free destinations. The ETA has been recognised as the equivalent of 'visa-free' by the Governments of the USA, France, Spain, Japan and the Republic of Korea in their extension of visa waiver arrangements for Australian nationals visiting those destinations. In addition, Australians have been able to travel to a number of countries, notably in Western Europe and North America, without the need to obtain a visa for a number of years. Introducing ETA has helped ensure those arrangements are maintained. Visas and ETA provide an assurance for the airlines that their passengers have the proper authority to enter Australia on arrival.