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Australia to re-open borders to students, workers

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Australia" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/afp/11/01/20211101-aurtralia-travel-afp.jpg?ext=.jpg"/></figure></div><p>SYDNEY - Australia announced Monday it will re-open to foreign students and skilled workers from next month, easing some of the world&#x27;s most stringent pandemic travel restrictions. </p><p>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.</p><p>&quot;Australia is re-opening to the world,&quot; said Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews as she announced the news, adding it was &quot;yet another step forward for Australia&quot;.</p><p>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. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/08/21/australia-begins-vaccine-booster-rollout">Australia begins vaccine booster rollout as more curbs ease in Sydney</a></li></ul><p>But Morrison -- who is hoping to be re-elected next year -- had pointedly refused to relax travel rules for most non-Australians. </p><p>That decision left an estimated 1.4 million skilled visa holders stuck in Australia, unable to return if they decided to leave. </p><p>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. </p><p>Among those most vocal in calling for rules to be further relaxed was the beleaguered university sector. </p><p>According to Universities Australia, an industry group, 130,000 international students remain outside the country. </p><p>&quot;They want nothing more than to re-join their classmates in Australia,&quot; said the group&#x27;s chief executive Catriona Jackson, who described the decision as &quot;great news.&quot;</p><p>There had been fears that many Asian students would opt to study in person in the United States or Europe rather than pay for online courses based in Australia. </p><p>There is no word yet on when leisure travelers may be able to return to Australia, a blow to the equally hard-hit tourism sector, which has seen visitor numbers virtually evaporate since borders were closed in March 2020.</p><p>While some Australian states still require quarantine, vaccinated Australians, some visa holders and citizens of Japan, South Korea and Singapore will now be able to visit Australia with only a pre-departure negative Covid-19 test.</p><p>arb/djw/reb</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1625983" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Australia announced Monday it will re-open to foreign students and skilled workers from next month.