December 1 was the originally planned date of the most significant change to Australia’s international border restrictions since March 2020. However, this plan was "paused" for two weeks on November 29, in response to the unclear threat of the newly emerged Omicron variant. There still remains much mystery about the level of protection vaccines provide against Omicron and how severe symptoms from this new variant can become, but despite these unknowns, the PM Scott Morrison has confirmed that Australia’s international borders will reopen to visa holders from Wednesday, December 15, as planned.
The majority of tourists will still be refused entry into Australia, except for those from Korea, Singapore and Japan, thanks to travel bubble arrangements with those nations. However, student visa holders, working holiday visa holders, skilled migrants, refugee applicants and provisional family visa holders will be allowed to enter the country and provided they have been inoculated with a vaccine recognised by the TGA, entrants will not be required to quarantine upon arrival.
However, all arrivals to Australia will require a negative PCR test and must also complete Australian traveller declaration forms detailing their vaccination status and confirming requirements to comply with state and territory public health requirements.