Introduction
After being closed for almost two years, the recent news of Australia’s borders reopening soon has come as a sigh of relief for both citizens and international students. During a speech, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, announced that the Australian borders would open for the citizens by November. Fully vaccinated international students will also be allowed to enter Australia.
The Reason For Australia Borders Reopening
Since March last year, Australia has been under a strict lockdown that forbade its citizens from traveling abroad other than in exceptional circumstances. There were also restrictions on foreign visitors willing to go to Australia.
The purpose of closing the international borders was to control the outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the country. After eighteen months, the Australian Government has decided to slowly open its international borders for citizens and international students by November first week.
The Australian Government has taken this decision because more than half of the adult population in Australia is vaccinated. Over 30 million covid vaccines have been distributed in Australia so far.
The Plan of Australia Border Reopening
The Australian Prime Minister announced that international students are among the priority groups who will be allowed to enter Australia. Even though there will be certain travel guidelines and quarantine restrictions, the decision of Australia’s international borders opening for international students will be beneficial for international students.
Those who were eagerly waiting to move to Australia for their higher studies or were already studying there but had to come back during the pandemic will now be able to return soon. As of now, the New South Wales University and the South Australia University have received permission from the Government to allow their international students to come to Australia. The rest of the Australian states will also allow international students’ entry soon.
How will Australia Border Reopening Help Indian Students?
In 2018, more than 100,000 Indian students were studying in Australia. However, ever since the pandemic, international students had lost the hopes of pursuing education there as they were not allowed to enter the country.
In July, a group of nearly 13000 Indian students enrolled in Australian universities had written to the Indian Government requesting them to put their grievances before the Australian Government. However, the international borders of Australia are still closed. Due to this, thousands of students from India and other countries pursuing or planning to pursue education in Australia were left hanging.
The Australian universities allowed the students to continue their classes at home. However, nearly all the Indian students who have paid a large sum of admission and tuition fees in an Australian University do not find their investment worth it.
The Australian Government has recognized the Covishield vaccine provided to people in India. Therefore, if you have received both doses of Covishield and have been waiting to study in Australia, it is time to start packing your bags.
With the Australian borders opening soon, the Indian students already studying in Australia can go back to enjoy campus life. The news has also come as a ray of hope for Indian students who were planning to study in Australia but had to defer their plans owing to the pandemic.
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