Thought this would be worthy as a deal post. If not, please report to move to forums.
If you haven't renewed your passport and don't have time to go to post office by tomorrow, you can avoid the passport fee increase on 1st July by submitting your online application and they will honour the old fee for 28 days from application. The fee has to be paid at an Australia post outlet.
There is no mention on website by I called them to confirm.
Can confirm $346.
Can confirm vanilla visa worked.
Can confirm 15c kmart passport photo worked.
Yeah we did the home photo thing also. We did Harvey Norman first and they were a little darker than what we anticipated. 2 of the three were accepted but I had to redo mine as the photo was cropped a little close. Retook photos and did and Kmart and they were accepted. Less than a dollar compared to almost $90 at the post office.
Thanks for sharing.
Do you have advice on setting up to take the photo, eg did you use multiple flashes etc? Also how did you get the background to print out as white and not darker etc?
White background like a wall with lots of light.
Use the back camera of a flagship phone.
If you use kmart, you can lighten the pics a little using the toolbar (which i did)
Print in glossy
More info here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/853758
@easternculture: I didn't do any alterations to photo as the gov site says they won't allow it. Upon thinking about this I figured they have no way of really knowing. We didn't have very well lit room but luckily a light ring that we managed to position well enough in the room to light it up enough and not cause shadows. Oddly the original photos we did not use this and they did come out a little dark which we were concerned about but they were accepted and processed by the passport office. I think the darkness may have been due to Harvey Norman's bad print chemicals. Won't go back there again. They lost our first prints and never followed up with where they went even after explaining I was concerned about them being passport photos. Will just stick with Kmart from now on. Much easier with their self serve.
Upon thinking about this I figured they have no way of really knowing
1st go, pic was dark so had to lighten them up a touch enough to not affect tone of skin
I did mine at the post office, and was trying to use vanilla visa credit and savings, with and without pin, and it didnt work:S
But at least it was $346
Not sure why. The manager processed my payment. Paid with 1 x $250 vanilla visa (originally bought for $231) and remaining microgifts (10% off aldi deal) so kinda like ended up paying low $300
Im a way ended up saving over $100 doing my own photo and submitting online application before 30 June.
Yeah doing your own photos can save a lot. Surprised more people dont do it. Unless your in hurry it's not like it's a issue. The passport office simply send you an email asking you to resubmit. Costs nothing more. For a family it's a huge saving.
. For a family it's a huge saving
Agree. For an average family of 4, its close to $100 in photos compared to less than a buck to do your own
where did u get the discounted $250 vanilla visa? was it a recent sale?
@easternculture: wow how did u manage to get 80 of the $250 gift cards considering they give only 5 of them at one time and they finish so quickly. I only managed to get 15 of them
Seems like the 15cent photo did the trick
We've sent your Passport by registered post. Check your email for the tracking number. Message from the Australian Passport Office.
Yeah huge money saver for a family.
applied today with forms generated on 29th June. was charged new fee. :(
We applied yesterday with forms and paid the fee stated on the form. Did they not scan your forms properly? Our price came up when they scanned the QR code.
They scanned my forms but the new price was charged, don't know if they overrode and manually changed to the new price. Paid $201 per child application.
I don’t think this deal works for child applications, as no price stated on the form unlike for adults.
Submitted today at AP with Kmart printed photo (S24U) no issues. Paid with prepaid Activ Visa via Google Wallet
$346 as fees?
Yep. Applied online on 30th June.
wow the passport office is soo quick (not that I wanted)
submitted on 26th July after 4pm at Australia Post office
received email 1st Aug that its being dispatched
same. but my wifes put in exact same time has not come yet.
Got my email and text notification today that it's on its way.
Got mine 5 days after submitting application
Australian passport website did not have increase of fee notification or information before the implementation date from which it was applicable i.e 01/07/2024.
This has caused many of us ending up paying new increased fee. Why they hid this information is beyond me.
Yeah, those national media reports were not enough. Bastards.
Bastxxx's ill intent, failed to publish what, when and where it was necessary! Some dumbs think national media reports were good enough!
I guess in this case it might just be 'a want vs need'. Cheers.
I agree. However, it's a big spike in loot in broad daylight.
Confirming not honouring the price for children’s passports, adult only. 😩