The Australian government is finally phasing out the Incoming Passenger Card that needs to be completed when arriving into the country. This paper form will eventually be replaced with a digital form called the Australia Travel Declaration (ATD).
The Incoming Passenger Cards won’t be fully removed until next year. But Qantas has already begun trialling the new digital declarations on selected flights from New Zealand to Brisbane Airport.
Qantas passengers flying from Auckland to Brisbane on QF126 (the afternoon flight) can already complete the ATD in the Qantas App, in lieu of filling out a paper card. The trial will be expanded in the coming days, becoming available to Qantas passengers flying into Brisbane from other New Zealand destinations as well.
For now, the ATD is only available to adult passengers, and not children or people on (large) group bookings. The program is due to expand to children and groups by the middle of 2025.
“We’re excited to be partnering with the Federal Government to make flying into Australia that little bit easier for millions of tourists and Australians each year,” Qantas Chief Customer and Digital Officer Catriona Larritt said.
“This is the latest addition to the Qantas App and adds to inbound flight tracker, baggage tracking, passport scanning, and ‘click to call’ features we’ve recently added.”
How the Australia Travel Declaration works
We expect that the Australia Travel Declaration will eventually be available to complete directly on the Australian Border Force website or in a dedicated smartphone App. But for now, during the pilot phase, it’s only available within the Qantas app.
Eligible passengers can complete the ATD within 72 hours of departure.
If you’re eligible to use the ATD, you’ll find a prompt in the Qantas app.
After you complete the declaration, the Qantas App will generate a QR code.
On arrival in Australia, after clearing passport control via the smart gates, passengers will then be able to show the QR code in the Qantas App to customs staff.
Paper Incoming Passenger Cards are still available for people who prefer not to, or cannot, use the ATD. The Australian Border Force website has some more information and Frequently Asked Questions about the ATD trial.
Not the first time Australia has tried using a digital declaration
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian government required inbound passengers to complete a previous version of the Australia Travel Declaration. It then replaced this with a Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) App in February 2022.
Unfortunately, the DPD App didn’t work properly. It was littered with bugs, was poorly designed and wasted a lot of travellers’ time. The Australian government scrapped it after less than five months.
So, it’s probably a good thing that the Australian government and Qantas are taking the time to test the new online declaration system, starting with a limited trial. This will provide the opportunity to identify and iron out problems before it’s rolled out to all airlines and passengers.
Many other countries have already switched from paper forms to digital declarations for incoming passengers, including New Zealand and Singapore. Some countries have even ditched forms altogether in recent years.
Australia previously required departing passengers to fill out an Outgoing Passenger Card as well. The Australian government ditched those green departure cards in July 2017.
