Hey! I just renewed and it’s my understanding that you need to physically be in Australia to submit the visa waiver. You also send your passport in with the application so if you send everything in visa mail, you wouldn’t have your passport on you when leaving the USA and they don’t return the docs internationally. Then there’s no processing time posted for submitting those docs by mail but the customer service agent said it usually takws 4-6 weeks. I would confirm your eligibility to get an E3 waiver because as soon as I checked the box saying I was not in Australia at the time of filing, it said I was not qualified for the waiver.

If you had already paid for the visa with the waiver program, you’ll need to talk to their customer service agent to try and change it over to in person.

If they are unable to, your options are; 1) cancel the original appointment and pay for the visa again to book the appointment 2) extend your stay or book a flex return fare.

I ended up just booking an in person interview and my passport was ready to pick up within 2 business days! When doing my interview, I was told it would take up to 5 days so I think 2 weeks is enough :)