International students who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, with vaccines recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, will not be required to quarantine when they arrive in NSW from next month.
The NSW government made the announcement on Friday afternoon, bringing the imminent arrivals in line with the scrapping of quarantine on November 1 for fully vaccinated returning Australians and their immediate families.
The NSW International Student Arrivals Pilot Plan allows 250 returning international students, studying with NSW education providers, to arrive in the state each fortnight from December 6.
Institutions including UTS, UNSW, The University of Sydney, Australian Catholic University, Macquarie University, The University of Newcastle, University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University have all signed up to the plan.
Loading
The students must have been fully vaccinated with a TGA-recognised COVID-19 vaccine before touching down in Sydney.
“The first flight will carry around 250 students from over 15 nations, including Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, China and Canada, with a second flight to bring in students from South Asia and India also scheduled,” Premier Dominic Perrottet and Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres said in a joint release.
Mr Ayres said students will require Commonwealth Government approval to travel to Australia.
The first phase of the plan was to bring 500 international students back on chartered flights, paid for by the students, before the end of 2021.
Scape Redfern, which has more than 500 rooms, was flagged back in September as where students would complete 14-day quarantine. However, for the fully vaccinated that will no longer be required.
“Students will return via flights to NSW from December until further notice through the pilot plan’s phased approach,” the NSW government said on Friday. “Scape Redfern will continue as the accommodation partner supporting international students as they return.”
Discussion about this post