Two-way Trans-Tasman Bubble starting 19 April 2021

[Beano]

Although the site

Department of Home Affairs Website

Home Affairs brings together Australia's federal law enforcement, national and transport security, criminal justice, emergency management, multicultural affairs, settlement services and immigration and border-related functions, working together to keep Australia safe.

covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au

Says

Exempt categories​

You are automatically exempt from the travel restrictions and can enter Australia (without obtaining an individual exemption) if you are:

• an Australian citizen
• a permanent resident of Australia
• an immediate family member of an Australian citizen or permanent resident*
• a New Zealand citizen usually resident in Australia and their immediate family members
• a person who has been in New Zealand for 14 days or more immediately prior to arrival by air in Australia
• a diplomat accredited to Australia, including their immediate family members (each member of the family unit must hold a valid subclass 995 visa)
• a person transiting Australia for 72 hours or less
• airline crew, maritime crew including marine pilots
• a person recruited under the Government approved Seasonal Worker Program or Pacific Labour Scheme
• a person who holds a Business Innovation and Investment (subclass 188) visa.

* If you hold a temporary visa or do not yet hold a valid visa for Australia, you must provide proof of your relationship (such as your marriage certificate, evidence of your de-facto relationship such as shared finances or property, your birth certificate or birth certificate for your children) to the Department before you travel to Australia. Do not travel until we advise that you can. You can find out more about how to provide this information at Immediate family of Australian citizens or permanent residents or New Zealand citizens usually resident in Australia.

You need to carry evidence that you meet one of the above categories when travelling. Additional evidence may be requested.

And this:
Unless arriving to Australia on a quarantine-free flight from New Zealand, travellers to Australia (including Australian citizens) must quarantine for 14 days

So travellers form NZ are exempt.

Post automatically merged: Apr 12, 2021

They'll probably change it, but right at the moment it is pretty much how it works. If you go to NZ right now, you'd be struggling to stay less than 2 weeks.

Remember, it is New Zealand that changed rules on their side. I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

I've just spotted something that is bound to cause someone a headache unless fixed prior to the 19th.

Qantas on their own site says to travel from New Zealand to Australia:


but then to travel from Australia to New Zealand:

Note the very big difference is that traveling to Australia you must have spent the last 14 days in NZ however for travel to NZ the last 14 days can be spent in AU or NZ.

Air NZ also has a similar message because this seems to be the line given by the Australian government:

COVID-19 and the border

covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au

Currently, everyone travel to Australia needs to fill out a travel delectation and question 6 currently has the following:

Answering no means you don't get a green tick and it gives you a message saying that you're ineligible for a quarantine-free flight. Currently to check-in for a green zone flight, you need to show a confirmation of your green tick/approval.

It's probably me overthinking it all but it seems to be a large oversight from the Australian government whereas the NZ gov seems to have thought this through a bit more.

Are you saying that a traveller can't commute on a weekly basis to Australia from NZ and must stay in NZ for two weeks between trips?

I've just spotted something that is bound to cause someone a headache unless fixed prior to the 19th.

Qantas on their own site says to travel from New Zealand to Australia:


but then to travel from Australia to New Zealand:

Note the very big difference is that traveling to Australia you must have spent the last 14 days in NZ however for travel to NZ the last 14 days can be spent in AU or NZ.

Air NZ also has a similar message because this seems to be the line given by the Australian government:

COVID-19 and the border

covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au

Currently, everyone travel to Australia needs to fill out a travel delectation and question 6 currently has the following:

Answering no means you don't get a green tick and it gives you a message saying that you're ineligible for a quarantine-free flight. Currently to check-in for a green zone flight, you need to show a confirmation of your green tick/approval.

It's probably me overthinking it all but it seems to be a large oversight from the Australian government whereas the NZ gov seems to have thought this through a bit more.

Has anyone filled in the Australian declaration? I stared the process to see what the questions were but it got complicated. Does it say 14 days in New Zealand or is Australia included?

*started

 

[Beano]

NSW includes both countries.

You will not need to quarantine if

• you and people on your flight have only been in Australia or New Zealand in the 14 days prior to arrival

 

[henrus]

Has anyone filled in the Australian declaration? I stared the process to see what the questions were but it got complicated. Does it say 14 days in New Zealand or is Australia included?

I tried filling out the travel declaration as a test and the following question is asked (copy-paste below):

6. I declare that I have been in New Zealand for the 14 days prior to my flight to Australia:

The declaration website requires the exact flight number eg NZ204 and the date. It uses these to determine the type of flight you're on (a green zone or non-green zone flight). If you answer no to question 6 it comes back and says you're not eligible to travel on a green zone flight. You can submit a declaration up to 7 days prior to departure and unlike the WA G2G you can have multiple valid declarations saved in one account at the same time.

All they need to do is update question 6 however I'd argue this needs to be done rather quickly as technically people could already be filling out declarations for the 19th now. I doubt anyone will do a same day return on the 19th but you never know!

Note Perth Auckland but not Auckland Perth! Is WA still closed to NZ travellers?

WA will open to NZ travelers on the 19th (the first day of the two-way bubble). On that day WA will reclassify NZ from medium risk to very low risk.

I flew through Perth international terminal coming back from Christmas Island in December last year (~5 months ago) and they already had the airport setup in a green zone and red zone (quarantine flights) setup. The right side of the passport control area was dedicated to green zone flights whilst the desks on the left for red zone. Likewise downstairs at baggage claim, baggage belt 1 was for the green zone whilst the others were dedicated for red zone flights. You get off the plane, go through normal passport control then downstairs walking past the red zone baggage claim and at the end there are desks where they check your G2G and let you into the green zone baggage claim area. I don't think it'll be a problem at first but they don't allow red zone and green zone flights to mix so if there is a red zone flight that has just landed apparently the green zone flight has to sit on board and wait until all other arrivals have been processed through and the terminal has undergone cleaning first. We were lucky as no other arrivals at the same time as ours and it should be fine given just one flight from Auckland.

WA Government welcomes quarantine-free travel from New Zealand

The WA Government today announced plans to allow for safe and quarantine-free travel between Western Australia and New Zealand.

www.wa.gov.au

 

[oznflfan]

What would happen if NZ fully vaccinates their country by 31st December, and opens borders to the world (if vaccinated) 1st January 2022 onwards? If Australian borders closed until say completion of our vaccination 30th June 2022, does the bubble pop, or for first half of 2022 we go back to 14 days of HQ after visiting NZ - after all we may mix with all kinds, Americans, Chinese, German, Swahili?

 

[Berlin]

What would happen if NZ fully vaccinates their country by 31st December, and opens borders to the world (if vaccinated) 1st January 2022 onwards? If Australian borders closed until say completion of our vaccination 30th June 2022, does the bubble pop, or for first half of 2022 we go back to 14 days of HQ after visiting NZ - after all we may mix with all kinds, Americans, Chinese, German, Swahili?

Ouhw, my fellow Aussies are (understandingly after the events of the past two weeks) getting concerned now! I wouldn't swear on the Kiwi government getting it all done by end of year either but it's generally a good question.

Likewise, and on a slightly more positive note, what would happen if either Australia or New Zealand decided that other countries are now "safe enough", let's say Singapore or Islands in the Pacific? Would any such bubble 'extensions' need approval of BOTH governments to go ahead now?

 

[Beano]

All good questions. Cook Islands are imminent for quarantine free travel, so what will happen. The Australian government will have to agree to that. We may soon find out.

 

[henrus]

All good questions. Cook Islands are imminent for quarantine free travel, so what will happen. The Australian government will have to agree to that. We may soon find out.

I wouldn't expect anything fast.

Someone can already travel from the Cook Islands to New Zealand (quarantine free) and then New Zealand to Australia (quarantine free) but the big problem is they have to spend 14 days in NZ first.

It wouldn't surprise me if you'd have to spend 14 days in NZ both ways for a while until the Cook Islands gets added as a safe country and Australia gets added as a safe country in the Cooks.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

What would happen if NZ fully vaccinates their country by 31st December, and opens borders to the world (if vaccinated) 1st January 2022 onwards?

Seems unlikely notwithstanding announced plans for timing of full vaccination. NZ's progress to date has been even slower than Australia.

NZ government feels it has a mandate to be extremely cautious on opening borders following the election landslide last year.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Likewise, and on a slightly more positive note, what would happen if either Australia or New Zealand decided that other countries are now "safe enough", let's say Singapore or Islands in the Pacific? Would any such bubble 'extensions' need approval of BOTH governments to go ahead now?

While ideally both governments would agree to any extension of the bubble, the default is need to spend 14 days in Australia or NZ if arriving from a third country. We already have this with the NZ-Cook Islands arrangement (no quarantine on arrival to NZ from Cook Islands but if want to travel on to Australia would need to spend 14 days in NZ first).

That said, if either country opened up to a third country the other country wasn't comfortable with the trans-Tasman bubble could be closed. Hopefully that doesn't occur.

 

[henrus]

Somethings that's surprising is that none of the airlines have put on flights to arrive at the start of the bubble.

Officially 11.59pm on 18 April is the start date and I thought it was something Air NZ might do by have flights that leave Australia at 7pm (on the 18th) and get to NZ after midnight.

At this stage, it seems JQ201 SYD-SKL will be the first of 32 flights departing AU for NZ on the 19th (with 5 of these flights already sold out), at this stage, 27 flights will land in NZ on the first day (not including the 3 that arrive just after midnight).

 

[Trudie22]

I thought I'd start a dedicated thread about the start of a two-way trans-Tasman bubble, which will launch at 11.59pm on 18 April 2021. Qantas, Jetstar and Air New Zealand are all subsequently ramping up flights between Australia and New Zealand from 19 April.

Great news, although New Zealand's Prime Minister has warned that the quarantine-free travel arrangement could still be disrupted again if there are future outbreaks in Australia or New Zealand, so it would be a case of "flyer beware", and you would need to plan for the possibility of getting stuck on the other side of the ditch.

Australians to be able to fly to New Zealand later this month — here's how it will work

New Zealand will allow Australian travellers to enter the country without mandatory hotel quarantine from April 19.

www.abc.net.au

So, who's booked to go to New Zealand?

Booked for departure on the 19/4/21 from Brisbane to Christchurch.

Have business to attend, which is year overdue on the South Island, plus have family in Christchurch I will be staying with and looking forward to seeing again!
My last trip was in March 2020...just over a year since I have been to the land of the long white cloud, and am so happy to be on first flight to Christchurch ex Brisbane on Monday 19/4/21 since COVID debilitated travel to and from AU to NZ.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Somethings that's surprising is that none of the airlines have put on flights to arrive at the start of the bubble.

Officially 11.59pm on 18 April is the start date and I thought it was something Air NZ might do by have flights that leave Australia at 7pm (on the 18th) and get to NZ after midnight.

At this stage, it seems JQ201 SYD-SKL will be the first of 32 flights departing AU for NZ on the 19th (with 5 of these flights already sold out), at this stage, 27 flights will land in NZ on the first day (not including the 3 that arrive just after midnight).

View attachment 244998View attachment 244999
View attachment 245000

There could be a few issues with doing that.

Air NZ first needs to fly to Australia, and those flights won't be as full going the day before as not everyone has worked out you can visit Australia ahead of the bubble to return to NZ when the bubble opens. It would be easier for Qantas and Jetstar given they have the aircraft in Australia already.

Past instances of changes in border rules have included a buffer to capture trans-Tasman flights that arrive just after midnight. Perhaps the NZ government has instructed the airlines any flights arriving just after midnight will be treated as non-bubble?

What happens if a flight arrives too early due to tailwinds? Do they have to quarantine? Or does everyone stay onboard until after midnight?

For all the airlines there is a significant increase in flights with many logistics to arrange (crew, aircraft, ground handling, etc) that all needs to be in place. Scheduling flights to depart before the bubble but land afterwards increases the complexity.

 

[Nee24]

So, does anyone have plans to use NZ as a jump off point for movement to elsewhere in the world, and try their luck with returning from elsewhere (and spend a significant amount of money & 2 weeks in HQ) ? That has been raised in media as a concern, although the $3k hotel quarantine + $2-5K in flights per head act as a significant barrier.

I've considered this. My partner currently lives in the US (military) and we haven't seen each other since Feb last year. The only way for me to get an exemption is to leave for at least 3 months which is not really feasible. But if I can go for less than 3 months by going via NZ I may just do that. I'll be surprised if they don't somehow close that loophole though.

 

[Beano]

There is no full bubble to Cook Islands until 1 May 2021

 

[Beano]

I've considered this. My partner currently lives in the US (military) and we haven't seen each other since Feb last year. The only way for me to get an exemption is to leave for at least 3 months which is not really feasible. But if I can go for less than 3 months by going via NZ I may just do that. I'll be surprised if they don't somehow close that loophole though.

I wish you luck. Could be expensive and difficult coming back as you need to isolate on return. NZ you need to book a place but with fewer from Australia you may be lucky. Austarlia you will be subject to the quota.

 

[Nee24]

I wish you luck. Could be expensive and difficult coming back as you need to isolate on return. NZ you need to book a place but with fewer from Australia you may be lucky. Austarlia you will be subject to the quota.

Thanks. Honestly, the cost is no issue for me. I'd pay it if I could see him even just for 1 day.

I think I'd have to return to Australia as NZ wouldn't let me back in due to not being a citizen/resident. From what I've seen since the US airlines are booking to the cap I should have no problem getting on a flight home.

 

[henrus]

I'll be surprised if they don't somehow close that loophole though.

I don't really think it's a loophole that can be closed as that would require NZ to block Australian's from leaving NZ unless heading to AU.

Despite what some people in the media have suggested you won't be able to return via NZ. NZ is only allowing their citizens, residents, or Australian's who've spent the last 186 days in a rolling 12 months period into NZ to complete hotel quarantine in NZ.

Regarding leaving via NZ, the department of home affairs says:

Note: This provision is only applicable when New Zealand is the destination of travel. If you are transiting through New Zealand to another destination you must apply for an outward travel exemption.

My take on that is that if you were to come back having left Australia without applying for an exemption (or being exempt automatically), you'd be in breach of the current COVID Biosecurity Outbound restrictions which currently has a maximum penalty of 300 penalty units ($63,000) or 5-year imprisonment. Now they won't use the full amount but I'd expect some fine at the very least, people are going to try this and I suspect they may try and make an example of a few people early on.

Everyone arriving into Australia off non green zone flights has to go to a manned desk (smart gate is switched off) to have your passport checked, it's during this process they've been checking how long you've been away (and if you left after the exemptions came in they've apparently been checking your exemption as well).

Post automatically merged: Apr 13, 2021

There is no full bubble to Cook Islands until 1 May 2021

That's not even an official date yet. With the amount of dragging of feet, it could be even longer.

 

[Nee24]

I don't really think it's a loophole that can be closed as that would require NZ to block Australian's from leaving NZ unless heading to AU.

Despite what some people in the media have suggested you won't be able to return via NZ. NZ is only allowing their citizens, residents, or Australian's who've spent the last 186 days in a rolling 12 months period into NZ to complete hotel quarantine in NZ.

Regarding leaving via NZ, the department of home affairs says:


My take on that is that if you were to come back having left Australia without applying for an exemption (or being exempt automatically), you'd be in breach of the current COVID Biosecurity Outbound restrictions which currently has a maximum penalty of 300 penalty units ($63,000) or 5-year imprisonment. Now they won't use the full amount but I'd expect some fine at the very least, people are going to try this and I suspect they may try and make an example of a few people early on.

Everyone arriving into Australia off non green zone flights has to go to a manned desk (smart gate is switched off) to have your passport checked, it's during this process they've been checking how long you've been away (and if you left after the exemptions came in they've apparently been checking your exemption as well).

Post automatically merged: Apr 13, 2021

That's not even an official date yet. With the amount of dragging of feet, it could be even longer.

Yeah as I mentioned in my last post, I'd have to come back directly to Australia rather than NZ due to the reasons you also mentioned.

If you stay in NZ a few days and buy an outward ticket while there, that's technically not transiting. Although you have a point on the biosecurity act. I'll wait to see what happens when it opens.

 

[Beano]

I tried filling out the travel declaration as a test and the following question is asked (copy-paste below):

The declaration website requires the exact flight number eg NZ204 and the date. It uses these to determine the type of flight you're on (a green zone or non-green zone flight). If you answer no to question 6 it comes back and says you're not eligible to travel on a green zone flight. You can submit a declaration up to 7 days prior to departure and unlike the WA G2G you can have multiple valid declarations saved in one account at the same time.

All they need to do is update question 6 however I'd argue this needs to be done rather quickly as technically people could already be filling out declarations for the 19th now. I doubt anyone will do a same day return on the 19th but you never know!

WA will open to NZ travelers on the 19th (the first day of the two-way bubble). On that day WA will reclassify NZ from medium risk to very low risk.

I flew through Perth international terminal coming back from Christmas Island in December last year (~5 months ago) and they already had the airport setup in a green zone and red zone (quarantine flights) setup. The right side of the passport control area was dedicated to green zone flights whilst the desks on the left for red zone. Likewise downstairs at baggage claim, baggage belt 1 was for the green zone whilst the others were dedicated for red zone flights. You get off the plane, go through normal passport control then downstairs walking past the red zone baggage claim and at the end there are desks where they check your G2G and let you into the green zone baggage claim area. I don't think it'll be a problem at first but they don't allow red zone and green zone flights to mix so if there is a red zone flight that has just landed apparently the green zone flight has to sit on board and wait until all other arrivals have been processed through and the terminal has undergone cleaning first. We were lucky as no other arrivals at the same time as ours and it should be fine given just one flight from Auckland.

WA Government welcomes quarantine-free travel from New Zealand

The WA Government today announced plans to allow for safe and quarantine-free travel between Western Australia and New Zealand.

www.wa.gov.au

Qantas web site says:
To be eligible to travel on a Qantas trans-Tasman flight between Australia and New Zealand, you mustn't have visited a country outside of Australia and New Zealand in the 14 days before your trans-Tasman flight.
That's two out of three say both countries.

You can always say you've been in NZ for 14 days and keep your fingers crossed if you go back to OZ earlier than 14 days. What about trips of less than 14 days to NZ?

 

[jase05]

What about trips of less than 14 days to NZ?

Wouldn’t mind knowing this as keen just to go to Auckland for a few days