News

The Consular State of Play 2020-21 has been released. It details how DFAT’s consular officers around the globe have continued to help keep Australians safe overseas while providing high-quality consular services throughout the pandemic.

Now that travel is opening up, Australians are once again able to head overseas to visit family during the holiday season. Although it’s not festive to think about, there are some risks that are greater at during the holiday season. We want to make sure you have a safe and successful trip.

On 15 December Australia’s Chief Medical Officer announced that Australia’s border measures introduced temporarily in response to the COVID-19 Omicron variant restricting travellers who have been in the 8 southern African countries have now ceased.

In line with these changes, the travel advisories for all 8 destinations have been reviewed and lowered to ‘Reconsider your need to travel’ due to the impacts of COVID-19 and disruptions to global travel.

We know many of you might be seeking to make travel insurance claims due to COVID-19 related disruptions. You’ve asked us for information about when we raised our travel advice levels for different destinations and globally. We've put together a list of the changes we made to move to level 3 ‘reconsider your need to travel’ or level 4 ‘do not travel’ as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demonstrations and civil unrest are common around the world. They can be peaceful or violent. Read our advice on staying safe if there's unrest while you’re overseas.

Tropical cyclone season has started in the South Pacific. Read our advice if you’re overseas during the cyclone season.

International travel isn’t the same as it used to be. Read our step-by-step guide to see what you might expect, from the time you start planning your trip to the moment you arrive back in Australia.

From 1 November, Australia’s international borders will progressively reopen, with fully vaccinated Australians able to depart Australia without applying for an exemption. In line with this reopening, we’ve removed our global ‘Do not travel’ advisory.