EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Migration Act 1958
ELIGIBLE PASSPORTS
(SECTION 175A)
- This Instrument is made under section 175A of the Migration Act 1958 (‘the Act’).
2. Section 175A provides that for the purposes of Division 5 of Part 2, which deals with immigration clearance, the Minister or Secretary may determine, by legislative instrument, that a specified kind of passport is an eligible passport.
3. Section 165 of the Act provides that ‘eligible passport’ means a passport of a kind specified in a determination under section 175A.
4. Section 166 provides, relevantly, that a person who holds an eligible passport may, in certain circumstances, be immigration cleared via an authorised system, rather than an immigration clearance officer.
5. The purpose of the Instrument is to determine for the purposes of section 165, what kinds of passports are ‘eligible passports’.
6. The Instrument operates to determine that Australian ePassports and New Zealand ePassports are eligible passports for the purposes of section 165 of the Act and holders of these passports may use through an authorised system for immigration clearance.
7. Consultation was undertaken before the instrument was made as follows:
- Australian Customs Service
6. The Instrument, IMMI 07/030, commences on 27 August 2007.