EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Migration Regulations 1994

TRANSIT PASSENGERS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A SPECIAL      PURPOSE VISA (REGULATION 2.40(1)(n))

1. This Instrument is made under Regulation 1.17 and paragraph 2.40(1)(n) of the Migration Regulations (1994) (‘the Regulations’).
2. Regulation 1.17 of the Regulations provides that the Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, specify matters required by individual provisions of the Regulations to be specified for the purposes of these provisions.
3. Regulation 2.40(1)(n) of the Regulations provides that transit passengers who belong to a class of persons specified by Gazette Notice are prescribed as having a Special Purpose Visa for the purposes of section 33(2)(a) of the Migration Act 1958.
4. The purpose of the Instrument is to specify, as a class of persons, persons who are transit passengers, for the purposes of Regulation 2.40(1)(n).
5. The Instrument operates to specify the countries whose citizens are eligible to access Australia’s transit without visa (TWOV) arrangements.  Transit passengers from these countries are able to access the TWOV arrangements provided they are from an eligible country, hold a confirmed onward booking to leave Australia to travel to a third country on the same or another aircraft within 8 hours of their arrival in Australia, hold documentation necessary to enter the country of their destination, and remain in the transit lounge.  Diplomatic passport holders from most countries are also eligible to access Australia’s TWOV arrangements.  However the TWOV list also sets out those countries whose diplomatic passport holders are not able to access the TWOV arrangements.
6. In particular, the Instrument amends Attachment A to the previous Instrument to:

• Add Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Palau to the list of countries whose citizens are eligible to transit Australia without a visa;
• Add the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the list of countries whose diplomats require a visa to transit Australia; and
• Refer to Samoa instead of Western Samoa to reflect that country’s change in name.

7.                  Specific consultation was undertaken with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before the Instrument was made.

8. The Instrument commences on 1 November 2005.