AUSTRALIA VISA ENTRY/EXIT REQUIREMENTS
American citizens are required to have a valid U.S. Passport to enter Australia. Americans must enter with an Australian visa or, if eligible, through Electronic Travel Authority (ETA). The ETA replaces a visa and allows a stay of up to three months.

AUSTRALIA SHORT STAY BUSINESS VISA (SUBCLASS 456)
Purpose of Visa
The Australia Business (Short Stay) visa (subclass 456) allows for bona fide business persons to visit Australia for up to three months to conduct business such as attend a conference, meetings or negotiations, or explore business opportunities. A single-entry or multiple-entry visa may be issued.

AUSTRALIA LONG STAY BUSINESS VISA (SUBCLASS 457)
Purpose of Visa
This Australia visa is primarily intended for persons and their families who have been sponsored by an Australian organization to work in Australia on a temporary basis (i.e. up to 4 years). The visa also provides for the temporary entry of people wishing to establish or operate a business in Australia and for certain other employment-related purposes. There are 7 streams of entry within this subclass.

Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE
Australia's aboriginal inhabitants, a hunting-gathering people generally referred to as Aboriginals and Torres Straits Islanders, arrived more than 40,000 years ago. Although their technical culture remained static--depending on wood, bone, and stone tools and weapons--their spiritual and social life was highly complex. Most spoke several languages, and confederacies sometimes linked widely scattered tribal groups.

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Australia was uninhabited until stone-culture peoples arrived, perhaps by boat across the waters separating the island from the Indonesia archipelago more than 40,000 years ago. Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English explorers observed the island before 1770, when Captain Cook explored the east coast and claimed it for Great Britain (three American colonists were crew members aboard Cook's ship, the Endeavour).

AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY
Australia's advanced market economy is dominated by its services sector (70% of GDP), yet it is the agricultural and mining sectors (7% of GDP combined) that account for the bulk (57%) of Australia's goods and services exports. Australia's comparative advantage in primary products is a reflection of the natural wealth of the Australian continent and its small domestic market; 20 million people occupy a continent the size of the contiguous United States. The relative size of the manufacturing sector has been declining for several decades, and now accounts for around 11% of GDP.

Full country name: Commonwealth of Australia
Area: 7.68 million sq km
Population: 19.5 million
Capital City: Canberra
People: 92% Caucasian, 7% Asian, 1% Aboriginal
Language: English
Religion: 75% Christian, 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 0.5% Jewish
Government: independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations
Head of State: Governor General Michael Jeffery
Head of Government: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
GDP: US$418 billion
GDP per capita: US$22,000
Annual Growth: 4%
Inflation: 2%
Major Industries: Minerals, oil, coal, gold, wool, cereals, meat, tourism
Major Trading Partners: Japan, ASEAN countries, South Korea, China, New Zealand, USA, EU
Member of EU: No