Information on international travel

Australia considers you to be fully vaccinated if you have completed a course, including a mixed dose, of a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved or recognised vaccine. Current vaccines and dosages accepted for the purposes of travel are:

Two doses at least 14 days apart of:

·        AstraZeneca Vaxzevria

·        AstraZeneca Covishield

·        Pfizer/Biontech Comirnaty

·        Moderna Spikevax

·        Sinovac Coronavac

·        Bharat Biotech Covaxin

·        Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV (for ages 18-60 only)  (read more about acceptable variations of this vaccine).

Or one dose of:

·        Johnson & Johnson/ Janssen-Cilag COVID Vaccine.

Seven days must have passed since the final dose of vaccine in a course of immunisation for you to be considered fully vaccinated. Mixed doses count towards being fully vaccinated as long as all vaccines are approved or recognised by the TGA.

If you have not been vaccinated with the above doses or schedule, you do not meet Australia’s definition of ‘fully vaccinated.’ This includes instances where the dosing schedule or vaccine eligibility differs in your country of origin.

If you do not meet Australia’s definition of fully vaccinated, current border restrictions apply to you and you must continue to follow the current border processes when leaving Australia or coming to Australia. This includes seeking an exemption to travel, travelling within international passenger caps and undertaking mandatory 14 days managed quarantine.

The TGAis evaluating other COVID-19 vaccines that may be recognised for the purposes of inbound travel to Australia in future.  Information on the latest approved and recognised vaccines is available on the TGA website.

You will need a vaccination certificate that shows you meet Australia’s definition of fully vaccinated.

If you were vaccinated in Australia, you need to get an Australian International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate (ICVC). The quickest way to do this is to download a digital certificate using your Medicare online account through myGov, or the Express Plus Medicare app. If you cannot use these options, visit a Services Australia service centre or contact the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). To get an Australian international certificate you need to have your passport with you.

If you were vaccinated overseas and do not have an ICVC, you will need to present a foreign vaccination certificate before you fly and attest to your vaccination status. In order to be accepted as evidence of vaccination, a foreign vaccination certificate must have been issued by a national or state/provincial-level authority or an accredited vaccination provider. Paper and digital certificates are equally acceptable. Your certificate must be in English. A certificate is also acceptable if it is written in multiple languages and one of those languages is English. Otherwise, you will need a full certified translation.

Your certificate must show, at a minimum:

·        your name as it appears in your passport

·        either your date of birth or your passport number

·        the vaccine brand name, and

·        either the date you got each dose or the date on which you completed a full course of immunisation.

Getting a vaccination certificate, including the ICVC, does not necessarily mean that you are fully vaccinated. For example, your vaccination certificate may show that you have only had one dose of a two-dose vaccine. If your vaccination certificate does not demonstrate that you meet Australia’s definition of fully vaccinated, you cannot use it for leaving or entering Australia. It is your responsibility to know your vaccination status and ensure your vaccination certificate supports your eligibility to travel to and/or from Australia.

If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, you will need to provide evidence of a medical exemption. You should also check any requirements, particularly quarantine requirements, in the state or territory to which you are travelling.

If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident returning from overseas who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, you should check any requirements, particularly quarantine requirements, in the state or territory to which you are travelling as this will impact your travel arrangements. 

If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident departing Australia you need to show evidence that you have a medical contraindication reported to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) for all COVID-19 vaccines available in Australia. You can provide either your Australian COVID-19 digital certificate or immunisation history statement as proof. If a temporary medical contraindication has been recorded on the AIR, the COVID-19 digital certificate will display a ‘valid to’ date. After this time, you need to either:

·        check with your doctor to see if you can now get a COVID-19 vaccine; or

·        ask your doctor to update your status on the AIR if your medical contraindication is still valid.

Only eligible health professionals as defined on the Department of Health website can report medical contraindications to the AIR.  If you cannot demonstrate that your medical contradiction has been reported to the Australian Immunisation Register, you would need to apply for an exemption to leave Australia. 

Children under 12 will have their age demonstrated by their passport when departing or travelling to Australia.

From 1 November, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Australian children aged 12-17 years old entering Australia through New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory will be exempt from passenger caps and eligible for reduced quarantine requirements.

Where a child is travelling with parent/guardians who are all fully vaccinated, the entire family will be able to travel outside of passenger caps. If the child is travelling with unvaccinated adult family members, then the entire family group will be subject to managed quarantine and passenger caps.  

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Australian Children aged 12-17 years old will be required undertake a PCR test within 24 hours of arrival into Australia and quarantine at home for 7 days. A second PCR test will be required on day 5 or 6 before completing quarantine.

Transport from the airport to the home should be via private vehicle where possible. Taxi and Uber transport will be permitted, provided all people in the vehicle wear masks and drivers are vaccinated. But travel by bus, train or plane will not be permitted.

These children will be allowed to attend school after completing 7 days home quarantine. But visits to high risk settings such as child care, aged-care residential facilities, disability care facilities or hospitals, will not be permitted until 14 days after arrival. Exemptions apply for emergency medical care.

Families seeking to travel interstate would be required to adhere to the current jurisdictional border arrangements.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) advice that a “fully vaccinated” person is aged 12 or over, and must have received a complete course of “recognised or approved” vaccine unless otherwise specified.

Australian children who arrive into Australia will be considered as unvaccinated if they are:

·        aged 12-17 years inclusive and have not received any COVID-19 vaccination

·        aged 12-17 years inclusive and have only been partially vaccinated with a recognised COVID-19 vaccine

·        aged 12-17 years inclusive and have been partially or fully vaccinated with a non-recognised COVID-19 vaccine.

Australian children overseas may have difficulty accessing vaccination. While Australia has set the age of vaccine eligibility at 12 years old or above, in other countries this age and approach varies. In some cases, children are only provided with one dose, while adults over 16 years old receive two doses, such as in the UK.

Without this exemption families may be separated or treated differently depending upon the Australian state or territory to which they return. This exemption will also avoid situations where fully vaccinated parents may be required to enter government-supervised quarantine with their children who are treated as ‘unvaccinated’.

Temporary visa holders do not require an exemption to leave Australia but, at this time, require an inwards exemption to return. Immediate family of Australians may be exempt from the inwards travel restrictions. Information on how to apply for an exemption if you are an immediate family member of an Australian citizen or permanent resident can be found here.

Immediate family members with an exemption will also need to meet the requirements set out in this document, such as demonstrating they meet the vaccination requirements outlined in this guidance and presenting a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test upon check-in for their flight to Australia.

Immediate family members of Australians may also be able to enter Australia outside of passenger caps to states and territories with modified or no quarantine requirements, subject to being fully vaccinated and first obtaining a travel exemption.

For the purpose of of assessing exemptions to Australia’s travel restrictions, immediate family is:

·        a spouse

·        a de facto partner

·        a dependent child

·        a parent/legal guardian of a dependent child

·        a parent of an adult Australian citizen or permanent resident (from 1 November 2021).

Before a parent or an immediate family member who is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident can travel to Australia, they need to have their relationship confirmed by submitting a travel exemption request through the Department of Home Affairs’ Travel Exemption Portal. 

People who are not considered fully vaccinated would need to travel in accordance with any passenger caps, exemption processes and state and territory quarantine requirements (unless they are under 12, an Australian citizen or permanent resident  who is medically unable to be vaccinated, or a child aged 12-17).

Individuals who have a medical contraindication reported for all COVID-19 vaccines available in Australia can use either their COVID-19 digital certificate or immunisation history statement as proof.

If a temporary medical contraindication has been recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register, the COVID-19 digital certificate will display a ‘valid to’ date.

After this time, people will need to either check with their doctor to see if they can now get a COVID-19 vaccine, or ask their doctor to update their status on the AIR if their medical contraindication is still valid.

People who have received non TGA approved or recognised vaccines should not be certified in this category and cannot be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel.

Travel between states is still restricted. You may be able to arrive into some states from overseas without quarantine. But onward travel to your final destination might not be permitted. Check state and territory government websites for more information.