Reduced border restrictions from 12:01 am Tuesday 23 November - entry applications to be made via EntryCheck SA online portal
A revised Cross Border Travel General Direction is in the final stages of revision ahead of implementation from 12:01am tomorrow (23 November 2021). The reduced border restrictions, which are accompanied by a new cross border travel application process, will contain the following key elements for essential workers in the resources and energy sector:
- All travellers seeking to enter South Australia must apply using the EntryCheck SA online portal prior to travel. Responses to applications – which are sent by email – are prompt, however it is recommended applications are made three or more days in advance of travel.
- To use EntryCheck SA individuals must have – or create – a MyGov account to be able to submit evidence of vaccination.
- All vaccinated travellers will be permitted to enter South Australia.
- The EntryCheck SA approval will determine any testing and quarantine conditions of entry based on where the traveller has spent the majority of the 14 days prior to travel.
- Detailed information is available on testing and quarantine levels (PDF, 81.3 KB) and the current assessment of risk by Local Government Areas.
- Where the application does not allow for the address at which the traveller has spent the majority the previous 14 days (for example a remote mine site), the applicant should enter a proxy address from the nearest town.
- Essential travellers may apply for exemption from a direction to quarantine issued by EntryCheck SA for the period they continue to be an essential traveller. If an exemption is granted, the traveller must not enter high risk settings or events with COVID Management Plans for 14 days.
- An application to be treated as an essential traveller (‘specialist worker in an essential sector’) is submitted with an employer letter via a link provided in the EntryCheck SA approval email.
- Essential traveller approvals issued by EntryCheck SA will be valid for 3 months, supporting cross border travel.
- Any requirement of the EntryCheck SA approval to test prior to or upon arrival in South Australia will be satisfied if evidence of a test within the previous 7 days and an employer letter verifying that the traveller is a ‘specialist worker in an essential sector’ can be produced (that is exemption not required).
- Employer letters should continue to use the existing template (DOCX, 21.8 KB).
- Essential traveller approvals issued before 23 November 2021 will be honoured until they expire, at which time a new application will be required through EntryCheck SA.
- An essential worker who has not completed a full course of vaccination, but who received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine on or before 18 October 2021 and has evidence of a booking to receive a second dose within the interval recommended by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) for that vaccine, will be considered vaccinated.
- Essential travellers who are otherwise unvaccinated (whether interstate residents reporting for work, or South Australian residents returning from work interstate) will be not be approved to enter South Australia without an exemption. Exemptions for unvaccinated travellers can be applied for on narrow criteria (such as compassionate or medical grounds), with exemptions granted through an emailed link generated by the EntryCheck SA approval process.
Continue to send questions to the Department for Energy and Mining by email to Martin.Reid@sa.gov.au
We are here to support you through this transition period of the COVID Ready Plan.
Further information will follow shortly on the Test, Trace, Isolate, Quarantine (TTIQ) approach for the sector.
Stay well,
Paul Heithersay
Chief Executive
Department for Energy and Mining
Monday 22 November 2021
