PAUSE TO FURTHER EASING OF BORDER RESTRICTIONS

Published by SearchMyANZSCO on 30 Nov 2021

PAUSE TO FURTHER EASING OF BORDER RESTRICTIONS was published by Prime Minister of Australia on 29/11/21

Highlight of the statement as follows:

On the basis of medical advice provided by the Chief Medical Officer of Australia, Professor Paul Kelly, the National Security Committee has taken the necessary and temporary decision to pause the next step to safely reopen Australia to international skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and provisional family visa holders from 1 December until 15 December.

The reopening to travellers from Japan and the Republic of Korea will also be paused until 15 December.

On Saturday, the Australian Government announced the following measures:

Effective immediately, anyone who is not a citizen or permanent resident of Australia, or their immediate family including parents of citizens, and who have been in African countries where the Omicron variant has been detected and spread within the past 14 days will not be able to enter Australia. The countries are: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi and Mozambique.

Australian citizens and permanent residents, immediate family members including parents arriving from these countries will need to go into immediate supervised quarantine for 14 days subject to jurisdictional arrangements.

Anyone who has already arrived in Australia and who has been in any of the eight countries within the past 14 days must immediately isolate themselves and get tested for COVID-19 and follow jurisdictional quarantine requirements which will include quarantine for 14 days from the time of departure from southern Africa.

These restrictions also apply to people, for instance international students and skilled migrants, arriving from the safe travel zones we have established with New Zealand and Singapore who have been in any of the eight countries within the past 14 days.

These measures will also be continued until 15 December.

Upon further advice from Professor Kelly, Seychelles has been removed from the list of countries of concern.