(Sydney) Australia will lift the ban on travel abroad without permission, the government said on Wednesday, while the country’s borders are expected to be open to skilled workers and international students by the end of the year.
More than 18 months after Australia’s international borders were closed, fully vaccinated citizens will no longer need to apply for an exemption to leave the country, according to a joint statement from the Ministries of Health and Home Affairs.
The declaration comes as the rate of doubly vaccinated adults approaches the target of 80% in the country.
Home Secretary Karen Andrews said if Australian citizens were currently given priority, other travel restrictions, including for some non-nationals, would be relaxed as vaccination rates increased.
“Before the end of the year, we plan to welcome fully vaccinated skilled workers and international students,” she said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who foreshadowed the changes earlier this month, said Australia is now “very close” to announcing a reciprocal travel bubble with Singapore, which announced last Tuesday that the Australians were no longer required to observe a quarantine upon arrival.
Australian airline Qantas flights to the city-state are scheduled to resume on November 22.
“We are working to develop a timetable that will allow other visa holders, in addition to the doubly vaccinated Australians returning from or going to Singapore, to come to Australia,” Morrison told the channel. Channel 7 television.
On March 20 last year, Australia introduced some of the world’s toughest border restrictions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
For nearly 600 days, countless international flights were grounded and overseas travel shrank.
Families have been separated on several continents, tens of thousands of nationals have been stranded abroad and foreign residents have remained stranded in the country, unable to see their friends or relatives.
Quarantine arrangements for vaccinated returning residents will depend on their place of arrival in Australia.
While Sydney has lifted the quarantine for returning travelers, other Australian states with lower vaccination rates still impose a mandatory and expensive 14-day hotel quarantine.