Covid Visa Closure
Edit (on 4 Sep 23)
The Covid visa will close permanently on 1 Feb 2024.
A Covid visa is now only available to a person who
(i) holds a COVID-19 pandemic event 408 visa that is 28 days or less from ceasing to be in effect; or
(ii) held a COVID-19 pandemic event 408 visa that ceased to be in effect not more than 28 days before the application for a Subclass 408 (Temporary Activity) visa is made.
All other eligibility has been removed.
(Made law by this legislative instrument – https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2023L01167)
More details are available here: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/news-media/archive/article?itemId=1114
Original Post:
Starting on Saturday 2 September 2023
- You can only apply for a Covid visa if you already have one
- New applications will only get a six month visa
- It will no longer be free to apply; the lodgement charge will be AUD405.00
The Covid visa will close permanently sometime in February 2024. We don’t know exactly when in February, as the Minister’s press release only indicated that “From February 2024, the visa will be closed to all applicants.”
The official press release is here: https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/ClareONeil/Pages/closure-of-the-pandemic-event-visa.aspx
For the technically minded The ‘Covid’ visa I am referring to is the class GG Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408) in the Australian Government Endorsed Events (COVID-19 Pandemic event) stream.
