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From 18 April 2022, travellers entering or leaving Australia will no longer require a negative pre-departure test and cruise vessels can enter Australian territory. All incoming and outgoing international travellers may be requested to provide proof they’ve had two doses of an approved vaccine.
What is the process for travelling to Australia, including for return travellers?
It is now easier for Australian citizens, permanent residents, New Zealand citizens usually resident in Australia and fully vaccinated visa holders to travel to Australia. Unvaccinated visa holders will still need to be in an exempt category or hold an individual travel exemption to enter Australia. See: COVID-19 and the border.
The Government is continuing to assist vulnerable Australians, including those who are unvaccinated or who have not been able to access TGA approved or recognised vaccines still seeking to return home, through facilitated commercial flights. For more information, see Smartraveller.
Check if you can access reduced quarantine requirements
Your vaccination status will impact the options available for travel to Australia.
All incoming travellers will need to comply with the testing and quarantine requirements of the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territory to which they plan to travel.
Get a foreign vaccination certificate (if you don’t have an ICVC)
If you were vaccinated outside of Australia and you do not have an ICVC, you must obtain an overseas vaccination certificate.
Your 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.
Airlines will check your certificate when you check-in to your flight.
If your vaccination certificate does not meet all these requirements, you will not qualify as a fully vaccinated traveller.
Complete the Australian Digital Passenger Declaration before your flight
Passengers arriving in Australia by air should complete the Digital Passenger Declaration before travelling to Australia.
You can start aDPD seven days before your flight, but you must submit it before your departure for Australia. Passengers who do not complete a DPD before departure may face unnecessary delays when they arrive in Australia.
When filling out the DPD, you will need to:
- provide your contact details, including a contact phone number in Australia
- make a legally binding declaration in relation to your vaccination status
- make a declaration regarding your last 14 days travel history
- make a declaration that you are aware of the quarantine and testing requirements that apply when coming to Australia and in the state or territory you are landing, and the penalties for non-compliance.
Penalties will apply for giving false and misleading information, including potential criminal prosecution for providing false or misleading information as set out in s 137.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995. Travelers may also have to undergo hotel quarantine at their own expense.
After you clear both primary and secondary passenger processes, you will need to comply with the quarantine, entry, and post-arrival testing requirements of the state or territory where you have entered
At the airport
Present your foreign vaccination certificate or ICVC, negative COVID-19 PCR test result and show your completed DPD to airline staff when you check in for your flight. If you are not able to present valid documentation you may not be permitted to board your flight.
When arriving in Australia
After you clear both primary and secondary passenger processes, you will need to comply with the quarantine and entry testing requirements of the state or territory where you have entered.