New rules are applicable to foreign nationals in Australia – both visitors as well as visa and citizenship applicants – as part of coronavirus restrictions.

Tourists

Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge MP told Neos Kosmos that anyone visiting Australia will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

“Most cases in Australia have been transmitted from people arriving from overseas,” he said. “This means that they need to stay at their hotel or other accommodation rather than go sightseeing.”

He adds that repercussions for anyone not following the guidelines are as high as $20,000.

Mr Tudge understands that the self-isolation policies as well as a total ban on arrivals from China, South Korea and Iran will see a decline in tourism over the coming months. “I’ve got family members myself who postponed their travel arrangements from the UK,” he said. “Some people make plans a year in advance. We have great empathy, however the virus is serious particularly for elderly people.”

The government will show greater flexibility for tourists already in Australia who do not want to travel back home due to the spread of the virus in their countries. “I would encourage those people to contact the relevant departments in the first instance,” Mr Tudge said. “The department will take into account the coronavirus circumstances. There will be flexibility as well as greater flexibility for people applying for further visas on grounds of compassion.”

The Immigration Department is taking into account the pandemic.

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Citizenship ceremonies

Larger citizenship ceremonies are being impacted by the new rules that ban the gathering of more than 100 people indoors.

“Ceremonies will still be able to go ahead taking into account new citizenship rules,” he said. “Local councils have been informed that there need to be 100 people in total, including officials, and they need to exercise social distancing, which means no shaking of hands and keeping a distance of 1.5 metres.”

Mr Trudge does not exclude new health measures being introduced as the pandemic evolves. “We will have to obviously adjust the citizenship ceremonies,” he said.

“It is too early to say whether the coronavirus will slow down the overall number of people becoming citizens.”

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International students

New rules for international students were implemented last week that allow for more hours of work to help keep shelves stocked at supermarkets.

“To keep up with the demand, supermarkets have told us they need to give extra hours to current staff to stock shelves and serve Australian customers. While many of these will be Australian workers, international students will also be able to increase their hours,” Mr Tudge said, and there is a possibility that the scheme may be expanded to other sectors if necessary.

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Backlog 

There has definitely been a drop in the application for tourist visas, however the processing of visa and citizenship applications have not been thus far been affected by the pandemic.

“There had been a spike but our processing times have greatly improved,” he said.

The reciprocal agreement for Working Holiday Visa between Australia and Greece which allows young people to visit each country respectively with the right to work which was implemented last July is still valid provided arrivals self-isolate for two weeks. “At this stage, we don’t expect to see a drop in backpackers coming to work for a year, and they will be able to do so provided they self-isolate,” Mr Tudge said.