The industry has been advocating for almost two years to allow international students back into Australia. It appears there is still a lot of confusion about how, when and under what conditions International Students will be allowed back into Australia.
SA, NSW, Victoria and Queensland have all submitted student return plans to both State and Federal Governments and the good news is that the first students will return to Australia on 6 December. These students will land in Sydney and then move directly to 14 days of quarantine. However, the ACT will wait until the borders are open to all and will then welcome back international students who are double vaccinated without them having to go into quarantine. There are other plans of international students going to a facility outside Darwin where they will quarantine prior to going to their final study destination.
As we have seen during the COVID Pandemic government policies are likely to change very quickly and there seems to be ongoing discussions about student return plans. The big question being asked is how long before double vaccinated students will no longer be required to quarantine.
All of this is still sending very confusing messages to the potential students around the world. It is time for all governments nationally to work together and develop clear and consistent polices relating to timeframes and quarantine requirements for the return of international students nationally.