Consulate keeping passport?

[microcebus 40]

My fiancée and I have our NOA2 (dated August 3) for her K-1 visa.  VisaJourney's guide to the Sydney consulate says, "You will be required to leave your passport with the embassy and it will be posted back to you with your other documents once the visa has been printed."  She lives in Queensland and will need to fly to Sydney for the interview.  However, she is a citizen of Singapore and still uses a Singapore passport whenever she flies.  Is there a different ID that she can use, like her Australia driver's license, to get home from Sydney?

 

I hope this is not a stupid question, but since I still have so many questions for her I wanted to ask anyone who has been through this process before.  (I'm preparing what we will enter on the adjustment of status forms now so that we will not be too pressed for time later.)

[AshMarty 360]

13 minutes ago, microcebus said:

My fiancée and I have our NOA2 (dated August 3) for her K-1 visa.  VisaJourney's guide to the Sydney consulate says, "You will be required to leave your passport with the embassy and it will be posted back to you with your other documents once the visa has been printed."  She lives in Queensland and will need to fly to Sydney for the interview.  However, she is a citizen of Singapore and still uses a Singapore passport whenever she flies.  Is there a different ID that she can use, like her Australia driver's license, to get home from Sydney?

 

I hope this is not a stupid question, but since I still have so many questions for her I wanted to ask anyone who has been through this process before.  (I'm preparing what we will enter on the adjustment of status forms now so that we will not be too pressed for time later.)

She has to leave her passport because that is were the K1 visa will be stamped. They will mail it back to her within a few days.

 

Sorry just read the second part of the paragraph.

 

When I would fly with my husband Domestically in Australia they rarely even asked for my american license/passport (which blew my mind) because we would do self check in.  Her Australian license will be fine to carry for a domestic flight.

 

** It was actually the flight from Brisbane to Sydney for the interview that my (now) husband and I were having a good laugh about the differences in security for domestic flights in the US versus Australia. **

Edited August 13, 2018 by AshMarty

[geowrian 22,337]

The consulate requires the passport in order to 1) verify travel history/stamps, 2)  verify identity, and 3) affix the visa once it is issued.

 

As for how to fly domestically from Sydney to Queensland, I'll defer to the Australian/NZ members. I don't have specifics here, sorry.

[AshMarty 360]

Sorry I couldn't add this to my prior post: https://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/travel-documents/global/en

From the Qantas website: 

Forms of Identification

Domestic Flights within Australia

If you have an e-ticket or paper ticket, and are travelling on a domestic flight within Australia (flights QF400 and above), you'll need to carry the following items with you:

• Photo identification such as a driver's licence, passport or social security card; or
• Your Qantas booking reference (printed on your e-ticket itinerary receipt); or
• Your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership card, Qantas Club membership card; or
• Credit card used for the ticket purchase.

[microcebus 40]

23 hours ago, AshMarty said:

She has to leave her passport because that is were the K1 visa will be stamped. They will mail it back to her within a few days.

 

Sorry just read the second part of the paragraph.

 

When I would fly with my husband Domestically in Australia they rarely even asked for my american license/passport (which blew my mind) because we would do self check in.  Her Australian license will be fine to carry for a domestic flight.

 

** It was actually the flight from Brisbane to Sydney for the interview that my (now) husband and I were having a good laugh about the differences in security for domestic flights in the US versus Australia. **

That's good.  Regardless of the airline?

 

We had a really bad experience with Qantas last year and would prefer to have her take Virgin Australia or some other carrier.  On her way to the US, she had to change her departure date due to a sudden illness and was told at Brisbane that, because the departure date had not changed in their system (just American's), she didn't have a ticket.  That forced her to buy a new ticket for over $1000 on the day of departure.  On her way back from the US, American did not give her a boarding pass to use at LAX for getting back to Australia.  Qantas in LAX told her that her flight was full and she couldn't have a ticket even though we had gotten her a ticket 6 months before.  So they put her on a flight to Sydney, and she kept missing her flight to Brisbane because she was waiting for her bags, which we did not know (for several hours) were already in Brisbane.

[AshMarty 360]

13 minutes ago, microcebus said:

That's good.  Regardless of the airline?

 

We had a really bad experience with Qantas last year and would prefer to have her take Virgin Australia or some other carrier.  On her way to the US, she had to change her departure date due to a sudden illness and was told at Brisbane that, because the departure date had not changed in their system (just American's), she didn't have a ticket.  That forced her to buy a new ticket for over $1000 on the day of departure.  On her way back from the US, American did not give her a boarding pass to use at LAX for getting back to Australia.  Qantas in LAX told her that her flight was full and she couldn't have a ticket even though we had gotten her a ticket 6 months before.  So they put her on a flight to Sydney, and she kept missing her flight to Brisbane because she was waiting for her bags, which we did not know (for several hours) were already in Brisbane.

From what I was reading on the website.

 

As long as your flight doesn’t take off from the international terminal in Sydney you are okay. 

 

Qantas gives you the airplane models that fly from the terminal in Sydney but I am sure you can just verify she isn’t taking off from the international terminal with whatever airline you book with.

 

My personal flight experiences domestically have only been with Qantas when flying within Australia.

 

Sorry to hear about her experience. I always have such amazing experiences flying within Australia and Qantas. Now my American flights experiences not always so pleasant. 

 

Good luck. My husband (he was Australian but flying with his Australian license only) flew from Sydney to Brisbane with no issues after the interview without his passport. I was with him. 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by AshMarty

[microcebus 40]

11 minutes ago, AshMarty said:

From what I was reading on the website.

 

As long as your flight doesn’t take off from the international terminal in Sydney you are okay. 

 

Qantas gives you the airplane models that fly from the terminal in Sydney but I am sure you can just verify she isn’t taking off from the international terminal with whatever airline you book with.

 

My personal flight experiences domestically have only been with Qantas when flying within Australia.

 

Sorry to hear about her experience. I always have such amazing experiences flying within Australia and Qantas. Now my American flights experiences not always so pleasant. 

 

Good luck. My husband (he was Australian but flying with his Australian license only) flew from Sydney to Brisbane with no issues after the interview without his passport. I was with him. 

 

 

 

FlightStats has definitely been our friend on our trips to see each other.  It tells you the gates or at least the terminals and shows the planes' real-time position on the routes - basically everywhere except over a few remote areas of the ocean that don't have GPS coverage.

 

Edit: Yeah, security is definitely quite different between the US and the other countries I visited on the last trip.  UK, Singapore, and Australia were all quite easy.  I was only worried that my laptop/camera bag might be too heavy to let on board, but it was fine even at 9-10 kg.  When I got back to the US though, I had to take out every electronic device and put them in bins to get through TSA.  I hate doing that because I'm afraid people will just run off with them.  But LAX a few weeks ago was particularly bad because they made me put my shoes on the belt directly, in front of the bins with electronics.  Then the belt got stuck, caused the bins to buckle, and almost cost me over $5k (USD) in electronics.

Edited August 14, 2018 by microcebus