Australia to welcome vaccinated foreign students, workers

AUSTRALIA: The Australian Government expects 200,000 vaccinated foreign students and skilled workers will soon return without quarantining when the country further relaxes pandemic restrictions next week.

From December 1, students, skilled workers and travelers on working vacations will be allowed to land at Sydney and Melbourne airports without needing to seek exemptions from a travel ban, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on November 22.

“The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back, it’s a major milestone about what Australians have been able to achieve and enable us to do,” Mr. Morrison said.

The Government expects 200,000 arrivals in the two categories by January, he said.

Vaccinated citizens of Japan and South Korea will also be allowed in without quarantining, as well as people on humanitarian visas.

But the government has yet to decide when general tourists will be allowed to return. “I think Australians are very keen to see us take this step-by-step approach,” Morrison said.

Universities Australia chief executive Catrina Jackson said her sector lost AU$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion) last year because foreign students were locked out.

“We’ve got 130,000 students waiting to get back into this country. They’ve been so patient and they’ve been so resolute. They’ve been studying online for … almost two years now,” Jackson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. – THE HINDU