Chapter 2

Regulating Entry and

Departure
• In 2004-05, around 20.7 million air passengers and 1.2
million aircrew personnel arrived and departed compared
with around 18.6 million air passengers and 1.1 million
aircrew arrivals and departures in 2003-04.

• There were about 340,000 arrivals by sea (both crew and

passengers) in 2004-05; a rise of 2 per cent compared to
2003-04 when around 333,000 arrived. Over the same
period, total departures increased from around 323,000
to around 337,000, a 4 per cent increase.

• There were around 5.5 million visaed arrivals in 2004-05,

compared to around 4.2 million Australian citizens and
around 1.3 million New Zealand citizens.

• The United Kingdom (around 929,000) was the largest

source of visaed air arrivals to Australia in 2004-05,
followed by Japan (around 728,000) and the United
States of America (around 466,000).

• Sydney continues to be Australia’s busiest airport with

about 44 per cent of all movements into and out of
Australia in 2004-05, followed by Melbourne (about 21
per cent) and Brisbane (about 17 per cent).

• In 2004-05, around 3 million people arrived in Australia

on an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA), up approximately
3 per cent on the 2.9 million arrivals in 2003-04. Most (84
per cent) were issued by travel agents, but there was
continued growth in Internet ETA (11 per cent). Some 5
per cent were issued at DIMIA overseas offices.

• Total movements (ie. arrivals and departures) across the

Torres Strait increased from 49,959 in 2003-04, to 52,270
in 2004-05. Traditional inhabitants comprised 98 per cent
of such movements.
 Streamlining the Entry of Approved Travellers
The Department uses leading edge technology to deliver a secure
immigration processing system which is as non-intrusive as possible
for genuine travellers. It works closely with the Australian Customs
Service (ACS) to provide a streamlined immigration clearance process.

A key element of our secure and streamlined border processing is the

capacity to pre-check passengers before they travel to Australia using
the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system. The APP system
provides a double benefit to Australia by preventing inadequately
documented passengers from entering Australia and by increasing
the efficiency of incoming passenger processing at Australian borders.
See Chapter 1 for further information on APP.

Electronic Travel Authority

Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

The Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) is the world’s most advanced

and streamlined travel authorising system. Introduced in 1996, it
was developed to increase the access of low-risk departmental clients
to efficient visa services. The ETA replaces paper visas in passports
and removes the need for application forms. However, clients are still
checked against all immigration warning lists and APP processing at
the check-in counter ensures that border integrity is not compromised.

The ETA links the Department with over 300,000 travel agents
and 75 airlines around the world. Passport holders from 34 countries,
locations and regions can obtain authority to enter Australia at the
same time as they book their travel. Almost 99 per cent of ETA-
eligible passport holders apply for ETAs in order to travel to Australia
for tourism or short-term business purposes

Visitor arrivals to Australia increased by around 5 per cent in 2004-

05. This reverses the steady decline in visitor arrivals that began in
2000-01, and which was caused primarily by the events of 11
September 2001, and the SARS epidemic. ETA arrivals accounted
for 81 per cent of total visitor arrivals. In 2004-05, approximately 3
million people arrived in Australia on ETAs, up around 3.per cent
from the approximately 2.9 million arrivals in 2003-04.
Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

The number of non-ETA visitors also increased in 2004-05. In

2004-05, 723,000 people arrived as non-ETA visitors, up 6 per
cent from the 679,000 arrivals in 2003-04.

ETAs currently account for approximately 83 per cent of all tourist

and short-term business visas issued worldwide. In 2004-05, most
ETAs (around 84 per cent) were issued by travel agents; however,
there was continued growth in the uptake of Internet ETA. ETAs
have been available on the Internet since May 2001. In 2004-05,
approximately 11 per cent of all ETA arrivals obtained their ETA via
the Internet, compared to 9 per cent a year earlier. The Internet ETA
take-up rate is expected to increase as clients become more familiar
with the system over time. About 5 per cent of ETAs were issued by
DIMIA officers at Australian missions overseas through the IRIS
system in 2004-05.

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Monitoring the Movement of People
Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA
Source Data: Intercept, ACS and MR, DIMIA
Source Data: Intercept, ACS
14
Air Arrivals and Departures
The vast majority of people arrive in Australia by air, with only a very
small number, mostly the crew of commercial ships, arriving by sea.
Air arrivals include Australian citizens returning from overseas holidays
or time abroad, migrants, tourists, business visitors, temporary
residents, people on working holidays, overseas students and
diplomats, as well as the crew of international airlines.
In 2004-05, around 20.7 million passengers and 1.2 million aircrew
personnel arrived and departed compared with around 18.6 million
passengers and 1.1 million aircrew arrivals and departures in 2003-
04. This represents an increase of 12 per cent in passenger numbers
and reflects international passenger trends.
In 2004-05 there were around 10.4 million passenger air arrivals,
12 per cent more than in 2003-04, when around 9.3 million people
arrived. Over the same period, air passenger departures increased 11
per cent from around 9.3 million to around 10.3 million.
Sea Arrivals and Departures
Each year, around 650,000 people travel to and from Australia by
sea. This excludes overseas military and naval personnel arriving on
visiting naval ships. The majority (about 90 per cent) are the crew
members of visiting commercial ships, such as container vessels and
bulk cargo ships. Crew members include those who are staying with
the vessel while it works in Australian waters and those who are
joining or leaving the vessel in Australia. Crew arrivals and departures
in 2004-05 and 2003-04 were around 600,000 compared with
around 573,000 crew arrivals and departures in 2002-03. The lack
of growth in 2004-05 compared to 2003-04, was due in part to an
almost 50 per cent reduction in crew arrivals and departures on
cruise ships.
Less than 10 per cent of sea arrivals and departures are passengers,
mostly arriving on cruise ships as transit passengers or for short-term
tourism purposes, with much smaller numbers arriving as passengers
on commercial and other ships. In 2004-05, approximately 61,200
passengers arrived and departed compared with around 56,400 in
2003-04. In 2004-05, 106 cruise ships were recorded by the
Australian Customs Service as arriving in Australia. These include
international arrivals and round trip cruises (i.e ships that depart
from Australia for trips around the Pacific before returning to
Australia).
There were about 340,000 arrivals (both crew and passengers) in
2004-05, a rise of 2 per cent compared to 2003-04 when around
333,000 arrived. Over the same period, total departures increased
from around 323,000 to around 336,000, a 4 per cent increase.
 Main Ports of Entry and Departure
Sydney Airport is Australia’s busiest airport, with around 4.9 million
arrivals and 5 million departures in 2004-05 or about 44per cent of
total movements into and out of Australia. Melbourne Airport was
the next busiest port with around 2.31 million arrivals and 2.24
million departures (around 21 per cent of all movements), followed
by Brisbane Airport with around 1.9 million arrivals and 1.85 million
departures (around 17 per cent) and Perth Airport with around 1.1
million arrivals and 1 million departures (around 9.6 per cent).
Together, these four ports accounted for about 91 per cent of all
movements into and out of Australia in 2004-05.
Figure 2.7 shows arrivals by sea of passengers and crew on non-
commercial vessels. These figures exclude arrivals of those crew
members who are not leaving or joining the ship in Australia. In
terms of arrivals by sea, Sydney and Hobart were the main ports of
arrival in 2004-05, Sydney accounting for around 28 per cent and
Hobart around 24 per cent of all sea arrivals. Other major ports of
arrival included Brisbane (around 9 per cent), Darwin (around 7
Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA
per cent), Fremantle (around 5 per cent), Broome (around 4 per
cent), Cairns and Melbourne (around 3 per cent each), Dampier
(around 2 per cent), and Townsville (around 2.per cent)

Arrivals by Category of Traveller

Air and sea arrivals may be categorised as either Australian citizens,
New Zealand citizens or visaed arrivals. The latter are mostly the
holders of temporary visas such as tourists and overseas students but
also include former migrants to Australia who have not taken out
Australian citizenship. Visiting members of ships’ crews who are not
leaving or joining the ship in Australia are however not counted as
visaed arrivals and are not included in these figures. These people are
deemed to be the holder of a Special Purpose Visa for the duration of
the time they are on authorised shore leave.
New Zealand citizens who hold a valid New Zealand passport do
not need to obtain a visa before travelling to Australia, unless there
are health or character concerns. On arrival in Australia, New Zealand
citizens who present a valid New Zealand passport and a completed
passenger card are automatically granted a Special Category Visa Source Data: MR, DIMIA

(SCV) which is recorded electronically. The SCV is denoted in the

New Zealand passport with an arrival date stamp.
In 2004-05, there were around 5.5 million visaed arrivals, compared
to around 4.2 million Australian citizen arrivals and around 1.3
million New Zealand citizen arrivals. The number of arrivals across
all three categories declined in 2001-02 and 2002-03 compared to
2000-01, but increased steadily in 2003-04 and 2004-05. The
category of traveller most affected was Australian citizens where there
were around 4.2 million Australian citizen arrivals in 2004-05
compared to 3.5 million in 2003-04(20 per cent increase). This
trend is probably due to expatriate Australians returning to Australia
due to global security concerns.

Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA

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Source Data: IMIRS, DIMIA
Source Data: Intercept, ACS
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Visaed Arrivals by Citizenship
The United Kingdom (UK) was the largest source country for visaed
passeneger arrivals (both air and sea) to Australia in 2004-05, with
around 929,000 arrivals, followed by Japan with around 728,000
arrivals, the United States of America (USA) with around 466,000,
the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with around 346,000 and
the Republic of South Korea (ROK) with around 271,000 arrivals.
The UK, Japan and the USA have retained their respective positions
in the top 10 countries of citizenship for arrivals over the five years
since 1999-00. Of the top 10 countries of citizenship for arrivals in
2004-05, all registered an increase compared to the previous year
with the exception of Indonesia, with the largest increases in arrivals
from PRC (up about 26 per cent), Singapore (up about 15 per cent)
and the ROK (up about 14 per cent).
More than 90 per cent of arrivals by sea are the members of ships’
crews, mostly those of commercial vessels. Figure 2.10 shows the
number of commercial vessel crew arrivals by country or territory of
citizenship. These figures exclude those crew members who are leaving
or joining the ship in Australia. The majority of commercial vessel
crew in 2004-05 were from the Philippines (around 39 per cent),
followed by the PRC (around 13 per cent) and India (around 9 per
cent). Australian citizens accounted for only about 3 per cent of
ships’ crew.
 Torres Strait Movements
Torres Strait, a 150-kilometre wide passage between Cape York and
the south-west coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG), includes 150
islands of which 18 are inhabited. Thirteen of these are in the Torres
Strait Protected Zone. Under the Torres Strait Treaty, Australia is
obliged not to prevent or hinder free movement of inhabitants for
activities in or near the zone.

Traditional inhabitants living in the zone or adjacent coastal areas are

citizens of Australia or PNG and maintain customary activities for
their livelihood, or social, cultural and religious activities. Traditional
activities under the Treaty include activities on land (such as
gardening, food collection and hunting), activities on water (such as
fishing for food), ceremonies or social gatherings (such as marriages)
and traditional trade. Business dealings and employment for money
are not recognised as traditional activities under the Treaty.

Torres Strait Islanders are allowed to travel north into PNG as far as Source Data: Torres Strait MMO Reports
the 9 degrees South latitude line just north of Daru. They are also
allowed to visit Parama Island and the villages of Sui and Sewerimabu.
Coastal people from PNG are allowed to travel south into Australia
as far as the 10 degrees 30 minutes South latitude line near Number
One Reef.

The Department protects the integrity of migration arrangements

in terms of the treaty. As at 30 June 2005, it had employed 27
Movement Monitoring Officers (MMOs) who are based on the
inhabited islands. They work with island councillors and others to
manage traditional movements and report on other movements,
including those of unlawful non-citizens. They play an important
role in border control by weekly reports of arrivals and departures.
MMOs have often been responsible for spotting unauthorised boat
arrivals in the region.

DIMIA also has four full-time officers based on Thursday Island.

The Department’s Thursday Island office provides a full range of
immigration services including visa issue, citizenship and residency
applications, and manages the traditional flow of people in the Torres
Strait. As well, it manages issues arising from the Torres Strait Treaty.
Immigration officers make regular visits to the islands in the Torres
Strait and they participate in Treaty discussions.

Managing the Treaty requires considerable cooperation between a

range of Commonwealth agencies. Other agencies with a presence
Source Data: Torres Strait MMO Reports
in the Torres Strait include the Australian Customs Service, Australian
Federal Police, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service,
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence,
Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Centrelink, Australia
Post and the Department of Education, Science and Training.

Total movements (ie. arrivals and departures) across the Torres Strait
included 50,978 traditional and 1,292 non-traditional movements
for 2004-05 compared to 49,053 and 906 respectively in 2003-04
(4.6 per cent increase). The fall of around 7 per cent in 2003-04
compared to 2002-03 was due to some Torres Strait island
communities declining to accept traditional PNG visitors due to
fresh water shortages and health concerns. PNG traditional
inhabitants comprise about 98 per cent of all movements.
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