Do you need an onward ticket for Australia?
Not required
The words "onward" and "ticket" do not appear on Australia's Visitor 600 or ETA 601 pages. The tests are intent and funds.
A retrievable official rule affirmatively does not contain a ticket condition. What was read, and what it says, is set out below.
Last verified 5 August 2026 · Oceania
“proof you have enough money for your stay and to leave Australia”
What the rule actually says
Australia asks you to "have enough money… to support yourself while you are in Australia", and the evidence it names is money for the stay and for leaving — not a booking.
The companion test is intent, evidenced by "proof that you have reasons to return home".
That combination is the clean pattern: fund the departure and show you mean to make it. A ticket is one way of doing that, not the way.
Who checks
The decision is on intent and funds. There is no published ticket rule.
A note on airline enforcement, because almost every page on this subject states it as fact: airlines screen these rules through IATA Timatic, a paid business product with no public interface. Nobody outside the industry can check what it says for a given route on a given day. New Zealand is the only authority in this set whose own published text names the check-in desk.
Sources
- Visitor visa (subclass 600) (Department of Home Affairs, Australia)
- Electronic Travel Authority (subclass 601) (Department of Home Affairs, Australia)
Airports in Australia
Elsewhere in Oceania
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