Australia relaxes international travel rules, fully vaccinated foreign travellers allowed entry from December

After a ban of 1.5 years, Australia has announced the resumption of entry of foreign travellers with a valid visa to enter the country. As announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia will allow foreign visa holders to enter the country from the start of December, first time since Australia shut its international border in May 2020. Since then, only restricted numbers of citizens and permanent residents were allowed to enter in a bid to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

The rules were relaxed in recent weeks to allow foreign family members of citizens to enter, and Morrison said this will be scaled up from December 1 to allow vaccinated students, business visa holders and refugees to arrive. "The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back," Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Australia will also allow vaccinated tourists from South Korea and Japan from December 1, he said. The return of foreign students, who are worth about A$35 billion ($25 billion) a year to the Australian economy, will be a major boost for the education sector.

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Many Australian universities have come to rely on foreign students and the border closure led many higher education facilities to lay off hundreds of staff. A group of international students arrived in Australia from Singapore on Sunday after a travel bubble between the two countries came into effect.

Border rules, swift lockdowns and tough social distancing rules helped Australia to keep its coronavirus numbers far lower than many other comparable countries, with around 200,000 cases and 1,948 deaths.

Most new infections are being reported in Victoria state, which logged 1,029 cases on Monday. New South Wales, home to Sydney, reported 180 cases. Other states and territories are Covid-free or have very few cases.

With inputs from Reuters

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