International travel to resume to Australia from February 2022

Almost two years after the government closed Australia to the world, the international border is set to reopen to those who are fully vaccinated. 

The reopening, on 21 February, will be welcome news for many sectors including Tourism and international education.

Australia has had some of the world's strictest border controls throughout the coronavirus pandemic and the government shut the international border to everyone except Australian citizens and residents in March 2020 amid what was then the emerging coronavirus pandemic. It barred most foreigners from entering the country and put caps on total arrivals to help combat Covid.

The reopening of Australia's international borders has been heralded as an opportunity to re-invigorate the nation's struggling tourism and aviation sectors.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said borders will reopen to double-vaccinated visa holders from February 21 as COVID-19 cases and ICU admissions continue to decline.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said after new medical advice, the new border rules would come into place on February 21.

"The condition is you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia," he said.

"That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it."

Anyone with a valid visa (tourism, business etc) can fly Down Under. Some individual state-based arrival caps will be scrapped. State-based quarantine arrangements will continue under the control of individual jurisdictions.

Depending on which states they plan on travelling to, international arrivals may need to get a PCR or rapid antigen test after they arrive. Individual states and territories are expected to make announcements about what their conditions are. The federal government has not yet announced whether pre-departure testing will be scrapped.

Western Australia will remain off the table for some time to international travellers, but individual states and territories are expected to endorse Monday’s announcement. International arrivals have not needed to quarantine in Victoria or NSW since last year, and the requirement was scrapped in Queensland last month. Some states could require arrivals to take a rapid antigen test or a PCR test over the course of their stay.