Travel exemption to leave Australia

During the pandemic

Do you want to leave Australia during the pandemic? I’m guessing that’s why you clicked on this post or you’re at the very least thinking about it.

You're not alone, I've had countless friends message me asking how I did it!

I’ll tell you what to do to get an exemption

Mistakes I made along the way so you don’t make them!

Currently Australia is the only Country that isn’t allowing its citizens the freely travel internationally.

It seems the process set to obtain an exemption is intentionally unclear and I found myself a little confused and in the dark about what the government wants when applying;

Here’s the guidelines set from Australia government to get a travel exemption to leave Australia; https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/leaving-australia#toc-7

Australians and permanent residents

If you are an Australian citizen or a permanent resident you cannot leave Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions unless you have an exemption. You can apply online but you must meet at least one of the following:

• your travel is as part of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including the provision of aid

• your travel is for your business/employer

• you are travelling to receive urgent medical treatment that is not available in Australia

• you are travelling outside Australia for a compelling reason for three months or longer

• you are travelling on compassionate or humanitarian grounds

• your travel is in the national interest.

The category I applied for to get a visa exemption was

Travel for three months or longer

If you are seeking exemption from Australia’s outbound travel restrictions on the basis that you are leaving Australia for three months or longer, your proposed travel must be for a compelling reason and you must provide evidence to support your claims.

This evidence must be provided in the form of a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration.

The Statutory Declaration must state you are making an application for travel exemption on the basis that you intend to be absent from Australia for more than three months.

Evidence may include:

• confirmed flight itinerary, with return date of at least three months after departure date

• confirmation of leave from employment for three months

• enrolment confirmation for study

• a doctor’s certificate to support your claim you are travelling in order to provide care for sick family members

• any other matter you wish to raise in support of your request for exemption.

To put in your application you need to fill out a statutory declaration, this can seem scary but it’s a pretty standard form, just be aware to be 100% factual as it is a legally binding document below link with a how to:

https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/statutory-declarations/complete-statutory-declaration

I ensured to leave no reasonable doubt for the person approving the exemption that I would be back soon during the pandemic,

The documents I attached to this form were;

Outgoing flight tickets

AIRBNB details for the country I was visiting

Financial information showing I have enough money to sort myself out if something goes wrong and I need to come back to Australia (the government doesn’t want a citizen out of the country being a financial liability to get home); bank statements .etc

University enrolment details; online course

Communications with real estate to rent out house- shows long term travel intent

Vehicle license transfer form- Sold car before I left

I basically included any information to ensure that the person approving my exemption understood that I planned to be away for a long time

What not to do!

I applied for my exemption after booking my flights, this was a HUGE mistake! I speed read the government immigration page a few months before and the understanding I took was you need to book flights before applying, DON’T DO THIS!

Further reading showed it specifically says don’t book flights before applying (facepalm) in any case I applied Monday morning 10:00 and was approved by Tuesday afternoon around 1. I tried calling the immigration office twice to explain my situation and mistake, they aren’t helpful! I’m unsure if it intentionally this way and I’m sure they have a lot of a work on but they wouldn’t direct my call to the department who I send the exemption to.

I got information from someone at the immigration office that they approve the exemptions in order of date of travel, so basically because my stupidity of applying so soon before my travel the turnaround on my approval was really quick.Most exemptions get processed within the two week timeframe.

Lastly

If your exemption is rejected and you have full intent to travel for a long time (over 3 months) personally I would apply again (and I was fully ready to do so) and continue applying until you get approved, keep adding more information to your application.

Best advice I could give is include all details in your first application, tell them a factual story that basically can’t be refused. Again Australia is the only country in the world not letting its citizens freely leave its borders. I understand it is a pandemic at the moment and Australia doesn’t want financial liability to extradite its citizens but other countries are letting citizens travel freely with different protocols and it seems to be working pretty well.

There are lots of people travelling and exploring the world at the moment as long as you are mindful of a pandemic going on with your behaviour and stay away from hot spots life can be somewhat normal and travel can be free and beautiful!

Good luck! If you get overseas and this post has assisted you I would love to hear how you went about it! Or alternatively if you're already overseas and travelling I would love for you to get in contact to add to this guide!