China News Service, May 12 (Xinhua) According to the website of the Chinese Consulate General in Sydney, recently, some Chinese citizens planned to return to Australia via Sydney, Australia. They were unable to travel to Sydney due to failure to apply for an exemption related to Australia's inbound transit and were forced to stay in a third country .
Recently, affected by the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, Australia only allows Australian citizens and permanent residents and their immediate family members to enter the country, and makes temporary exemptions for foreign citizens transiting through Australia. The consulate general reminds the relevant matters as follows:
1. Chinese citizens planning to transfer via Australia must hold a valid Australian visa and log in to the Australian Ministry of the Interior website at least 48 hours in advance to apply for a transfer waiver online. For details, please see:
https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/transiting-australia
2. Due to the reduction of flights, at present, there are only direct domestic flights from Australia to Sydney in Sydney. In addition to meeting the first condition, Chinese citizens who intend to transfer back to Sydney via Sydney must also comply with the relevant transfer requirements of the New South Wales State Government.
(1) The transfer time is within 8 hours: 1. Passengers must take a connecting flight on the same day of arrival. 2. Passengers must meet Australian health testing requirements upon arrival. 3. Passengers must stay in the transit zone for international passengers, and no entry is allowed. 4. Passengers must strictly abide by social restrictions in the international passenger transit area.
(2) Transfer time exceeds 8 hours: According to the regulations of New South Wales, all international arrival passengers must be segregated for 14 days. If you need to transfer, passengers must log in to the website of the Australian Department of Health in New South Wales at least 48 hours in advance to apply for a quarantine exemption online, otherwise you will not be able to leave the centralized isolation point and transfer to Sydney Airport. For details, please see:
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/quarantine-exemptions.aspx
Due to the greater uncertainty in the approval of exemptions and flight connections, the Consulate General in Sydney reminded Chinese citizens to choose carefully to return home via Sydney and plan their own itinerary reasonably.