Australian visa holders have changed travel plans

Border closures are nothing new in the age of COVID-19, but the emergence of the Omicron variant has seen a halt to the planned easing of travel restrictions in Australia.

What was the original plan?

After being locked out for more than two years, some eligible visa holders were due to be allowed into Australia from the start of December. This included skilled migrants, international students, as well as those on humanitarian, working holiday and provisional family visas.

Speaking in November when the plans were announced, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back.

The federal government had estimated 200,000 migrants holding these visas were expected to take up the offer between December and January.

The start of December was also the date when international visitors from Japan and South Korea were due to be allowed into Australia.

What’s happening now? 

On 27 November, following Omicron’s detection in Southern Africa, the federal government reintroduced border security measures on Saturday for travellers coming to Australia from South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.

People who had been in those countries in the past 14 days were no longer permitted to enter Australia.

There were exceptions for Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members.

Those who are allowed to enter Australia from those countries have to enter supervised quarantine, normally in a hotel, for 14 days if coming from the listed countries.

What is expected to happen in the next two weeks?

The federal government put in a two-week pause as it wanted to buy more time to understand Omicron, how well vaccines can deal with the variant and how transmissible it is.

The Department of Health said, in a health alert on the variant, there were unknowns but added there was nothing to suggest the vaccines approved for use in Australia – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – were less effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalisation or death from Omicron.

Mr Morrison, speaking at a press conference on 1 December, said “The indications are that Omicron will be a more mild form of the virus. Now, if that proves to be true, that’s a major game changer. But these things are not yet known.”

Almost 93 per cent of the Australian population have had at least one dose of a vaccine, while 87 per cent of people aged over 16 have had two doses.