30/11/2021
Australia is actively monitoring the latest international evidence and developments regarding the ‘Omicron’ COVID-19 variant. This is an evolving situation and underlines that COVID-19 remains a global health risk.
The planned resumption of travel to Australia by fully vaccinated international students, skilled migrants, and refugee, humanitarian, temporary and provisional family visa holders will be delayed until 15 December. Fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and their family members can still travel to Australia subject to individual state and territory quarantine requirements. Unvaccinated Australian citizens can still travel to Australia, but remain subject to passenger caps and 14-day quarantine arrangements.
The precautionary border measures in response to the ‘Omicron’ COVID-19 variant are a temporary pause, not a stop, on the safe and gradual resumption of large-scale international travel to Australia. This pause will give Australia time to gather information and assess the risk Omicron poses to Australia’s public health, including the transmissibility and severity of the disease and the effectiveness of our current vaccines and treatments.
We encourage Australians to stay up to date with any changes through Smartraveller, and to contact their travel provider or airline on the impact travel restrictions may have on travel plans.