BY SARA AMRANIZAR

The Ministry of Transport of Singapore has announced a vaccinated travel lane to South Korea will begin in November, but the path to Australia is less clear.

Flight routes from Singapore are limited and Singaporeans are questioning whether travelling to Australia will be possible by December.

Singaporean students took to social media to comment on the possible re-opening of Australian borders with hopes to finish their studies in-country.

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) found that there were about 150,000 student visa holders outside the country - students that are not allowed to enter the country and participate in on-campus classes despite their visa.

First-year Monash media communications student Lauren Lee said studying remotely in Singapore is difficult and she hopes that coming to Melbourne will be an option soon. 

“It gets very draining staring at a computer screen all day, and paying more than 30k a year for an online education - It was a very discouraging way of starting out my university education,” Ms Lee said.

“I have not entered Australia for any part of my education yet, so I am really hoping that I will get to do that before I finish my degree,” she said.

Singapore has boosted immunisation rates and now allows fully vaccinated citizens to register for a travel certificate on Notarise. 

Australia’s international borders are now reopening with the Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD) which will show passengers’ COVID-19 vaccination status. 

Plover Trip gives corporate travel management for businesses and companies. The company’s Corporate Travel Manager, Quek Li Li said there are plans in place for quarantine free travel between Singapore and Australia.

“I think it's also possible for Singaporean students to travel to Australia sooner or later, as a lot of them are now going over to the UK for their studies,” Ms Quek said.

“Most of the travel agencies in Chinatown, even those smaller and bigger companies have shut down."

Ms Quek said vaccination certificates are important because it lowers travellers' chances of being quarantined for 28 days upon arrival.  

“The thing that is deterring travellers from travelling is the quarantine, as Singaporeans do not want to pay 28 days of quarantine fees,” she said.

Australia is currently in category two of Singapore’s vaccination differentiated border measures. 

Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders in Australia need to complete a seven-day Stay Home Notice (SHN) instead of 14 days, when they return to Singapore.

The Australian government announced that international borders will reopen as of next month for fully vaccinated Australians.