Labor Crunch Relief as Australia Further Softens Border Rules

(Bloomberg) -- Australia will open its international borders next month to fully vaccinated foreign students and skilled workers in a move that’s set to bring some much-needed respite to a labor market hit by widespread worker shortages. 

Around 200,000 eligible visa holders with recognized immunization certificates are expected to arrive in the few months following the December 1 easing, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday announced a further softening of international travel bans. Skilled workers and students, as well as refugee, humanitarian, temporary and provisional visa holders, are among cohorts now allowed entry.

“The return of skilled workers and students to Australia is a major milestone in our pathway back,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “We will start welcoming back the students, we’ll start welcoming back those on skilled visas that are desperately needed.”

Fully immunized travelers from Japan and South Korea were also given the green light for entry in an expansion of Australia’s travel bubble, which already includes Singapore and New Zealand. Incoming arrivals will not have to apply for travel exemptions, but will have to undergo state quarantine where relevant.

Sectors including agriculture and hospitality are grappling with deepening labor shortages exacerbated by strict international border controls, which were introduced to protect against fresh waves of Covid-19 infections seen overseas during the course of the pandemic and effectively thwarted what was the world’s largest immigration program by population.

As vaccination rates have risen above 90% in some of the country’s most-populous areas, the containment policy has caused friction amid fears that, without foreign workers and visitors, the “Fortress Australia” approach could end up causing more damage than good to the economic recovery.

The return of overseas students will also come as a relief to Australia’s university sector, which contributed A$40 billion ($29 billion) to the economy before the pandemic, according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Now we have begun the process of welcoming international arrivals, we must open up to more visitors as soon as possible,” Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. “State and territory governments must commit to allow quarantine free travel for all fully vaccinated arrivals.”

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