Form 80 Travel History: How to Complete Part E / Q18 Correctly
Key facts: Part E / Q18 of Form 80 covers all international travel in the 10 years before you sign the form — not just trips from Australia. Every country must be listed including transit stops where you cleared immigration. Use passport stamps, airline records, and bank statements to reconstruct your history. Approximate dates are acceptable if clearly marked.
| Key Facts | |
|---|---|
| Form 80 section | Part E — International travel history (Q18) |
| Period covered | 10 years before the date of signing Part S |
| Gap requirement | No gaps — every trip must be listed with dates and purpose |
| Transit stops | Include if you cleared immigration; exclude airside transits |
| Source documents | Passport stamps, airline records, bank statements, booking emails |
| Approximate dates | Acceptable if noted in Part T with an explanation |
Quick answer: Form 80 Part E requires every international trip in the 10 years before signing — with country visited, purpose, and departure and return dates for each.
Part E / Q18 of Australia's Form 80 asks you to list every country you have visited outside Australia in the past 10 years. It is one of the most frequently incomplete sections — and one of the most scrutinised by case officers. Missing even a single trip can trigger a request for additional information and delay your visa decision.
This guide explains exactly what Part E / Q18 requires, how to reconstruct your travel history accurately, and what happens if you've lost records.
⚠️ FormMate 80 is an independent tool and is not affiliated with the Australian Government or the Department of Home Affairs. Always verify requirements with your case officer or a registered migration agent.
📖 See the complete Form 80 guide →
What does Part E / Q18 of Form 80 ask for?
Part E / Q18 is titled "Travel outside Australia in the last 10 years". For each trip you list, you must provide:
- The country visited
- The purpose of travel (holiday, work, study, transit, etc.)
- The approximate dates of arrival and departure
- Whether the trip was to a country other than your country of citizenship
The 10-year window is counted backwards from the date you sign the form, not the date you lodge the visa application.
What trips must you include?
Include every trip that took you outside Australia's borders during the 10-year period, regardless of how short or routine. This includes:
- Holidays and leisure travel
- Business trips and work travel
- Trips to your home country
- Study or education trips abroad
- Medical travel overseas
- Transit stops where you cleared immigration (i.e., entered the country even briefly)
- Short trips to neighbouring countries (e.g., a day trip from Australia to New Zealand)
💡 If you were living outside Australia for part of the 10-year period, list the countries you visited from that base — not just trips you took from Australia. For example, if you lived in the UK from 2018–2021 and travelled to France and Spain, those trips must be included.
Do transit stops count?
This is one of the most common points of confusion. The answer depends on whether you cleared immigration at the transit country:
- Airside transit only (you stayed in the international terminal and did not pass through immigration) — generally does not need to be listed
- Landside transit (you passed through immigration, even to stay overnight in a hotel) — must be included
If you are unsure whether you cleared immigration during a transit stop, include it anyway. The Department will not penalise you for over-disclosing.
How to reconstruct your travel history
Most applicants cannot recall every trip from memory. Use these sources to rebuild an accurate record:
Passports (current and expired)
Entry and exit stamps are the most reliable record. Check every page of every passport you have held in the past 10 years — including passports that have since expired. If you have renewed your passport, keep the old one specifically for this purpose.
Airline booking records
Log in to frequent flyer accounts (Qantas, Virgin, Emirates, etc.) or airline booking portals. Most airlines store booking history for several years. Credit card and bank statements can also show airline purchases and dates.
Email inbox
Search your email for booking confirmations, hotel reservations, and e-tickets. Most travel bookings generate email confirmation with exact dates.
Calendar and photos
Digital calendars and phone photo libraries with location metadata can help fill in gaps. Photos are timestamped and often geotagged.
ATO and myGov records
If you were working in Australia, ATO tax records showing periods of absence can corroborate travel dates.
What if I don't know the exact dates?
Form 80 asks for approximate dates where exact dates are not known. If you cannot recall the precise day you departed or returned, use the month and year (e.g., "June 2021"). Make sure your approximations are clearly marked as approximate and are internally consistent — if you list a trip to Japan in "June 2021" it should not overlap with a trip to the USA also listed in "June 2021" unless they were sequential.
Do not guess and present guesses as certain. An approximate date that is clearly approximate is far less problematic than an inaccurate "exact" date.
What does a correctly completed entry look like?
| Country | Purpose | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | Holiday | Apr 2023 | Apr 2023 |
| United Kingdom | Work | Sep 2022 | Oct 2022 |
| Singapore | Transit | Oct 2022 | Oct 2022 |
| India | Family visit | Dec 2021 | Jan 2022 |
| New Zealand | Holiday | Mar 2020 | Mar 2020 |
What if I lived outside Australia for part of the 10 years?
Part E / Q18 covers your overseas travel regardless of where you were based. If you lived in the UK, USA, or any other country for part of the 10-year period, you must list all countries you visited during that time — not just the country where you were living.
This catches many applicants who think Part E / Q18 only covers trips they took from Australia. It does not. It covers all international travel during the 10-year window.
What if my passport was lost or stolen?
If a passport was lost or stolen, explain this in Part T (Additional Information) and provide the best reconstruction you can using alternative sources (booking records, bank statements, photos, etc.). Case officers understand that precise records may not be available for older travel and will generally accept a well-reasoned explanation accompanied by supporting evidence.
Common mistakes in Part E / Q18
- Only listing trips from Australia — forgetting travel undertaken while living or working overseas
- Missing short trips — day trips or weekend breaks to a neighbouring country
- Forgetting transit entries — especially stopovers in Singapore, Dubai, or Hong Kong where immigration was cleared
- Conflicting date ranges — overlapping trips without explanation
- Leaving the section blank if you genuinely have not travelled — write "No overseas travel in the past 10 years" explicitly; do not leave it empty
Let FormMate 80 guide you through Part E / Q18
Our wizard prompts you for every trip with structured fields for country, purpose, and dates — no blank PDF to wrestle with.
Start filling Form 80 — freeComplete your history sections
- Form 80 address history: how to avoid gaps
- Form 80 employment history: jobs, gaps and unemployment
- Form 80 education history: schools, universities and TAFE (Part G)
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to include trips that happened before I came to Australia?
Yes. The 10-year window applies to all your travel worldwide — not just travel from or to Australia. If you were living in India and visited Nepal in 2018, that trip must be included if it falls within 10 years of signing the form.
I travelled extensively for work. Do I need to list every trip?
Yes. There is no exemption for frequent business travellers. If listing every trip individually would be impractical, contact your case officer to discuss the best way to present the information. Some case officers accept a consolidated summary for frequent short-duration trips to the same country.
What if I made a mistake in Part E / Q18 after submitting?
Contact your case officer as soon as you discover the error. Proactively correcting a mistake is viewed far more favourably than having an inconsistency discovered during processing. Do not submit a second Form 80 without direction from your case officer.