Western Australia Gives International Students Until Feb. 5 to Enter State

Western Australia will introduce a new hard border under its Safe Transition Plan from Saturday 5 February 2022, which will affect international students as the government has set them a deadline to enter the state.

The government has informed that only international students who arrive in Australia before 12:01 am on February 5, 2022, will be permitted to enter. The new requirement applies only to returning students who are already enrolled in courses and not those who are planning to start their studies in 2022, Erudera.com reports.

“Effective immediately, WA’s border settings provide a pathway to allow students to return to WA in time for the start of the school year, by selecting the “returning student” reason for entering,” WA government notes.

As the Daily Mail reports, international students entering Western Australia by February 5, 2022, cannot enter Perth directly but must transit via other states. They should also be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and complete quarantine for 14 days in facilities located within 200 km of their entry point into WA.

In addition, media reports further note that students should also perform COVID-19 tests on the first and 12th day of isolation.

Previously, Western Australia had decided not to allow international students to return to the state due to the increase in the number of Omicron cases.

“Allowing hundreds or thousands of Omicron infected people to fly straight into Perth from Feb. 5, 2022, with no testing, no quarantine and no public health measures, would cause a flood of COVID-19 across our state,” the Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan wrote in a Facebook post.

Nevertheless, WA had published a statement on January 25, 2022, saying that international students are permitted to return to Australia and enter Western Australia via other states or territories if they are fully vaccinated and are able to self-isolate for 14 days.

Due to the lack of international students, Western Australian universities have reported a loss in revenue, fearing that international students might not choose to study in Western Australia again.

The Guardian reported that over 30 percent of all international students studying in WA universities remained outside the country at the end of 2021.

Other travelers allowed to enter Western Austria if they comply with testing and quarantine requirements under the new plan include returning western Australians, persons returning on compassionate grounds including funeral, those entering for urgent and essential medical treatment, persons entering under reasons of national and state security, etc.