Border Changes Revealed For Eligible Visa Holders & Travellers

Changes to Australia's international border restrictions were announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Canberra press gallery on Monday.

As early as December1, fully vaccinated international students, eligible visa holders and travellers from Japan and South Korea can come to Australia, without needing to apply for a travel exemption.

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"The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back, it's a major milestone about what Australians have been able to achieve and enable us to do," the PM said.

"...We’re looking forward to that occurring from the 1 December, we have done this in an orderly way, at first, we said, let’s get Australians home for fully vaccinated and that’s been occurring for the first of this month and so from the first of next month, we will come back to students, start looking back at the skilled visas that are needed to ensure we are able to take full advantage of the economic recovery that we are working to secure"

- PM Scott Morrison

Under the new agreement, Australian visa holders from Japan and Korea will be able to travel from their home country quarantine-free to states and territories that have their borders open, without needing a travel exemption.

However, travellers must follow several regulations including:

• Depart from their home country
• Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by the TGA
• Hold a valid Australian visa
• Provide proof of their vaccination status
• Present a negative Covid PCR test taken within three days of departure.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said welcoming travellers emphasised the importance of reopening to drive the nation’s economic recovery.

"These changes are crucially important to Australia as we go through our reopening phase," she said.

"We are working on a figure of 200,000, it may well be more than that, but we will be actively looking to bring as many people into Australia as soon as we possibly can."

- Minister Karen Andrews

The federal government also announced that they are increasing the number of visa places on offer in Australia for skilled migrants, students, and refugees. 

There are 79,600 skilled visa positions currently available, 13,750 humanitarian positions, and limitless scope for granting student visas.

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