The Australian government will scrap the requirement for anyone flying to Australia to complete a Digital Passenger Declaration from 6 July 2022.
From the same date, all remaining international COVID-19 border restrictions will also be removed. This includes the requirement for visitors to Australia to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Most Australian state & territories have also now removed all additional COVID-related entry requirements including the need to undertake a COVID-19 test after arriving from overseas. South Australia is now the last state to still require international passengers to get a post-arrival COVID-19 test.
The requirement for international cruise ship arrivals to complete an Australian government Maritime Travel Declaration (MTD) is also being removed.
Passengers will still need to complete an incoming passenger card on board their flight or ship.
Good riddance, DPD
The controversial Digital Passenger Declaration was originally introduced in February 2022 to replace the “Australia Travel Declaration” form. Completing the DPD is currently a mandatory requirement for anyone arriving in Australia by air, except airline crew members. The form asks for immigration and health information, including proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Eventually, the Australian government plans to replace the incoming passenger card with the DPD. This is still the long-term plan, but incoming Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil acknowledged that the current DPD needs a lot more work. The DPD in its current form is not user friendly, filled with bugs and asks for lots of unnecessary information, making it stressful and time consuming for many people.
“This is great news for families coming home from school holidays who now don’t need to use the DPD,” O’Neil said.
“We’ve also listened to feedback about the DPD. While in time it will replace the paper based incoming passenger card, it needs a lot more work to make it user friendly.”
The Australia DPD App has an average rating of just 1.3 stars on the Apple App Store and 1.6 stars on the Google Play store, which is terrible even for a government app.
Change takes effect from 6 July
If your flight is scheduled to arrive in Australia on or after 12.01am (AEST) on Wednesday 6 July, 2022, you are no longer required to complete a DPD. This is based on your flight’s arrival time in Australia. If your flight is departing on 5 July but arriving on 6 July, you do not need a DPD.
If you’ve already completed a DPD for a flight arriving in the next week, there’s no need to delete it but you may no longer need to show this prior to boarding your flight.
There are more FAQs available on the Department of Home Affairs website.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Digital Passenger Declaration to Replace Incoming Passenger Card
