Travel restrictions to Australia affecting international education

Reopening of international travel to students

Australia’s borders will reopen to fully vaccinated international students and Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa holders from 1 December 2021.

This will allow education providers to plan for the return of international students, and for students to arrive in Australia and complete pathway courses prior to the commencement of the 2022 academic year.

International students are an important part of the Australian community, and we look forward to welcoming them back to our classrooms, campuses and communities.

Who is eligible?

To access this arrangement, travellers must:

• be fully vaccinated and travel no earlier than seven days after receiving a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
  • Children under 12 and those who are medically exempt from COVID-19 vaccination can gain access to the same arrangements as fully vaccinated travellers.
  • Arrangements are also in place to permit unvaccinated minors aged 12-17 years to travel with a fully vaccinated adult. Travellers should check the specific requirements with the state or territory to which they are travelling.
• hold a valid visa for one of the eligible visa subclasses
• provide proof of their vaccination status
• present a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test taken within 3 days of departure (unless a medical exemption applies).

Travel Exemptions

From 1 December 2021 fully vaccinated international students with a valid visa no longer need an exemption to travel to Australia. More information on travel exemptions can be found at the Department of Home Affairs website.

Quarantine requirements

International students and Temporary Graduate visa holders arriving in Australia need to comply with the quarantine requirements in the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territories to which they plan to travel.

Travellers returning to Australia may only enter and travel between NSW, Victoria and the ACT without quarantining. Travellers may be responsible for costs of quarantine if they arrive in a state or territory without meeting entry requirements.

Proof of COVID-19 vaccinations

Travellers vaccinated in other countries will be able to present certificates in formats that meet the following criteria:

• Issued by a national or state/provincial-level authority or an accredited vaccination provider
• Written in English or accompanied by a certified translation
• Containing at a minimum:
  • name as it appears in the traveller’s passport
  • either date of birth or passport number
  • the vaccine brand name, and
  • the date of each dose or the date on which a full course of immunisation was completed.

Information on foreign vaccination certificates is available on the Australian Passport Office website.

Pre-departure PCR testing

At this point in time, all travellers to Australia, including those who have been vaccinated, must provide evidence of a negative pre-departure polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 3 days before their flight’s scheduled departure. The Australian Government continues to review this requirement taking into account the most recent scientific evidence.

Exemptions to pre-departure testing requirements are available for specific individuals and countries. Exemption criteria and supporting documentation are defined in the legislative instruments that sit under the Biosecurity Act.

Future role of the Protocols and Preconditions for International Student Arrivals

To guide the state and territory planning process, the Australian Government agreed to the Protocols and Preconditions for International Student Arrivals with states and territories in late 2020.

Following the Government’s announcement on changes to border restrictions for fully vaccinated international students, the future role of the protocols is under consideration.