Mon Dec 13

The Latest News Regarding Travel Restrictions in Australia

After the discovery of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in southern Africa, travel restrictions have been put in place across the globe to prevent the spread of the virus. As the situation evolves, more and more countries are enforcing travel bans for people who have been in sub-Saharan Africa lately.

While Omicron was first detected in Botswana, it’s still unknown where the variant originally emerged. Nonetheless, the emergence of Omicron has engendered travel bans and strict border closures across the world. As many countries including the U.S. and the U.K. have imposed travel bans over Omicron, Australia has followed suit and closed its borders to eight African countries. There is great uncertainty about how long the border closures will last and how the new variant will impact international travel for Australians.

According to the new travel rules, people who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, Namibia, or Lesotho in the last 2 weeks are not permitted to enter Australia.

All direct flights from the aforementioned southern African countries are banned in Australia. These travel restrictions apply even if a traveler holds an eligible visa or travel exemption or is looking to enter the country through a safe travel zone.

These travel restrictions do not apply to Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents, or their immediate family members. However, they will be required to enter supervised quarantine for 2 weeks regardless of their vaccination status.

Other people who are exempted from these travel restrictions include diplomats accredited to Australia and their immediate family members, airline and maritime crew members, citizens of New Zealand residing in Australia and their immediate family members, people traveling across the country for 72 hours or less, and people who have been in Australia or New Zealand for 2 weeks or more immediately before arrival in Australia by air.

People that hold a temporary visa can leave the country any time. However, they will have to get an exemption order to return to Australia.

Though travel restrictions are uniform throughout the country, the requirements for entry may vary depending on your state or territory of arrival. As these restrictions may change on short notice, people must stay updated about the travel rules and requirements in the state of arrival.

People who are currently overseas and are returning to Australia from the above-mentioned countries will be quarantined for 14 days according to jurisdictional arrangements. They will be quarantined in the city of arrival and no dometic travel will be allowed.

Due to these travel restrictions, many Australians have been stranded overseas. Though Australian citizens stranded in the above-mentioned countries are calling for reparetition flights, no government-facilitated flights have been scheduled out of South Africa as of yet. You can use casino inquirer to find the best online casinos to gamble while you are overseas.