Coronavirus: Australia reopening to skilled workers, Japanese and South Koreans
- From December 1, some people holding Australian visas, as well as Japanese and South Korean citizens, will be able to enter the country
- Elsewhere, South Korea is resuming in-class lessons, while New Zealand will end its lockdown for Auckland early next month
Australia on Monday said it would again welcome foreign students and skilled workers from next month, easing some of the world’s most stringent pandemic travel restrictions.
Twenty months after Australia slammed shut its borders, some visa-holders – as well as Japanese and South Korean citizens – will be able to enter from December 1.
“Australia is reopening to the world,” said Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews as she announced the news, adding it was “yet another step forward for Australia”.
The government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison lifted restrictions on Australians travelling overseas last month, sparking a flood of travel bookings for the southern hemisphere summer.
But Morrison – who is hoping to be re-elected next year – had pointedly refused to relax travel rules for non-Australians.
That move left an estimated 1.4 million skilled visa-holders stuck in Australia, unable to return if they decided to leave.
Business groups had lobbied hard for vaccinated visa-holders to be allowed to return, as they struggle to fill jobs and gird for the beginning of a third year of restrictions.
Among those most vocal in calling for rules to be further relaxed was the beleaguered university sector.