From 1 December 2021, all fully vaccinated student visa holders will be able to come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption.

This also means that, from 1 December, students who have been in Australia patiently waiting for the restrictions to ease over the past 18 months can return home to visit their families and come back to Australia without having to apply for an exemption. 

Under these arrangements, travellers must:

• Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• Hold a valid visa
• Provide proof of their vaccination status
• Present a negative COvID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test taken within three days of departure. 

Travellers to Australia must also comply with the quarantine requirements in the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territory to which they plan to travel. 

From 1 December, fully vaccinated citizens from Japan and Korea will also be able to visit Australia – building on the recently announced travel bubble with Singapore, which began on 21 November. 

The 1 December timing ensures students can arrive in Australia and complete pathway courses in time for the start of the 2022 academic year. It also means their arrival is not unnecessarily compressed into an unrealistic time frame early next year which could delay the resumption of their studies in Australia.

Australia's Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison, stated on 22 November 2021 that the anticipated return of international students to Australia is "a major milestone in our pathway back". 

Read more on the Prime Minister’s announcement here. 

#WelcomebacktoAus

Source: studyaustralia.gov.au