Can I attend a piloting class as a tourist in Australia?
A friend of mine and I (we are both EU citizens living and working in Germany) are planning to go together to Australia for holidays for about a month. Because we are EU passport holders, we don't need a visa, but instead an electronic authorization that can be done online (more or less like an ESTA).
He would like to attend to a pilot class in Australia, that lasts one week and is not so expensive. Putting aside the nonsense of doing such a thing in a non-EU country, my question would be:
Do we, as tourists, need a visa for attending a course like this?
I mean, this is obviously a hobby therefore it is non academic, nor work related.
Best Answer
It depends if the training course instructors are required to be accredited or not. It also depends on the duration of the course. Since it's only a week you should be okay, but you need to verify directly with the flight instructors, to make sure they do not sponsor student visas.
For instance, according to the visa requirements section for "Advanced Flight Theory of the Sunshine Coast Airport", you should not need a student visa for one week of flight training, if the instructor is not accredited by law.
Because we are teaching to a syllabus written by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), there is no requirement for our courses to be accredited.
While our ATPL Theory course is accredited, we are not required to be accreditated so Student Visas are not issued for study at Advanced Flight Theory.
Students can attend the courses provided they abide by the conditions of a visitor/tourism visa.
Check with the training course instructors to see if they are required by law to be accredited.
It is possible your flight instructors are accredited and could be required by authorities to sponsor student visas for visitors. If this is true, in this situation you may be required to get a student (study) visa. It depends on how they are registered with the Australian immigration authorities for sponsorship.
Since you did not specify the instructors or company providing you and your friend the course, it is hard to say for sure. It's best to verify with the instructor that a tourist eVisa is acceptable, to follow Australian law.
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Can international students become pilot in Australia?
For an overseas student, this may have been difficult a few years ago. However, looking at the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) website now, there are far more General Aviation (GA) pilot jobs listed, many of which are open to overseas pilots who are able to work legally in Australia.How much does it cost to be a pilot in Australia?
On average, the integrated training to obtain a commercial pilot license in Australia could cost around $65000. Getting ATPL and IR after this would cost you almost double this to be finally ready for an airline job.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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