Australia Plans a New Digital Visa

The federal government will take another swing at digitising the paper-based incoming passenger card for international travellers, more than three years after its last attempt.

It will also develop a “simple digital visa product” after dumping its controversial billion-dollar plan to outsource Australia’s visa processing platform earlier this year.

In much the same way as 2017, the paper-based process will be replaced with a digital passenger declaration (DPD) that passengers can complete on their own mobile device.

Home Affairs expects the DPD will allow it to collect and verify information relating to a passenger’s customs and quarantine status for more than 40 million passengers each year.

However it is also being pitched as a way for public health authorities to collect and verify Covid vaccination certificates digitally when international travel eventually resumes.

“The DPD will be a critical enabler of Australia’s border operations while recovering from, and reacting to, the ongoing Covid-19 threat to public health,” the information paper states.

“It will deliver an integrated and streamlined application experience that facilitates international travel, and ensures relevant Commonwealth and state and territory agencies have the necessary information, verified in digital form, to support the public health response.”

The second use case is the simple digital visa product, which will include “an easy to use digital application”, to test the integration capabilities of the permissions capability platform.

“Together, these initial use cases will prove the efficacy and utility of the capability, while at the same time supporting the reopening of Australia’s borders through Covid-19 safe resumption of international travel,” the paper states. Read More >