Is the Australian Landing Card Still Necessary in the Written Form?

[BrianQQ]

For now, it's only if QF app offers, eh?
My Apr this trip (AKL -> SYD) didn't offer it in my QF app.

Only if QF offers, and it's progressively rolling out.

It was for certain flight numbers at SYD a while back, unsure if this is still the case.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

In re to BrianQQ, probably still is.

 

[RB001]

Good to see some (slow) progress...

Change to international travel as digital arrivals cards roll out

A digital alternative to incoming passenger cards filled out by everyone entering Australia is to be implemented in the next two years.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Mwenenzi]

AU Govt media release 13 July 2026

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/TonyBurke/Pages/digital-passenger-cards-to-streamline-australias-borders.aspx

Digital passenger cards to streamline Australia's borders
<snip>
The government will provide $56.1 million over four years for traveller modernisation at airports across Australia.
<snip>
The Australia Travel Declaration will then be rolled out to all international airports and seaports in a phased approach over the next 12 to 18-months, initially accessible via a webform option, with an aim to continue to collaborate with industry to co-design in-app capabilities.
<snip>

Does seem more bureaucratic and clumsy than the NZ system of the information~data linked to passport

 

[CaptJCool]

AU Govt media release 13 July 2026

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/TonyBurke/Pages/digital-passenger-cards-to-streamline-australias-borders.aspx

Does seem more bureaucratic and clumsy than the NZ system of the information~data linked to passport

Australia to ditch paper arrival cards for incoming travellers

Digital customs declaration to be phased in at all international airports and seaports after successful Qantas trial

www.theguardian.com

 

[jb747]

How hard would it be to talk nicely to the Kiwis, and use their system? You really have to wonder how they manage to spend $56million on something like this.

 

[SeaWolf]

How hard would it be to talk nicely to the Kiwis, and use their system? You really have to wonder how they manage to spend $56million on something like this.

At a guess, I reckon some of the difficulties around this dates back to the shotgun wedding of Customs and Immigration into Border Force back in 2015. Supposedly they're one big happy family, but if you start thinking of them as separate entities with limited integration, then a lot of how we do things at the border, and why progress is so slow and messy, starts to make more sense. Things like having screens to enter information into that are separate from the smart gates, little paper tickets that come out of the gates and have to be passed to a person, the sort of things you don't encounter in most other countries with automated border controls.

 

[opusman]

So the yellow cards are finally going, over 4 years because of course governments can never do anything quickly.

Now, how about those coughpy SmartGate kiosks?

 

[Warragul]

At a guess, I reckon some of the difficulties around this dates back to the shotgun wedding of Customs and Immigration into Border Force back in 2015. Supposedly they're one big happy family, but if you start thinking of them as separate entities with limited integration, then a lot of how we do things at the border, and why progress is so slow and messy, starts to make more sense. Things like having screens to enter information into that are separate from the smart gates, little paper tickets that come out of the gates and have to be passed to a person, the sort of things you don't encounter in most other countries with automated border controls.

Yes and the systems ( AUvNZ)are doing different things in background. But that shouldn't affect the public interface that much, which both are middle of the road for me.

 

[Mwenenzi]

So the yellow cards are finally going, over 4 years because of course governments can never do anything quickly.

Now, how about those coughpy SmartGate kiosks?

They could use the NZ immigration system of 1 machine.
NZ : swipe passport, gate opens, walk 2 steps and look at the screen. Gate opens.
AU: swipe passport, get a bit of paper with your photo, gate opens, walk 3 (BNE) or 20 or 200 steps, put paper into another machine look at the screen. Gate opens.

Immigration(passport) and customs are different functions.

 

[Daver6]

So the yellow cards are finally going, over 4 years because of course governments can never do anything quickly.

Now, how about those coughpy SmartGate kiosks?

Technically not going as they'll still be an option for those without the app/web.

 

[Quickstatus]

Trade Minister Don Farrell is also getting in on the announcements:

Talking points such as "seamless" and "streamline".
No, there is no seamless or streamline. The ATD is still required, whether digital or paper.

 

[TeaKozy]

Remarkable how we have managed to make this so incredibly complicated. As JB said, why can’t we just buy whatever NZ built?

They could have streamlined things had they built-in passport readers at the gates, however now the kiosks are more or less a requirement (unless they were to do something similar to the CBP app in the US). In a (more perfect) world, the kiosks would have been an option for those that didn’t lodge an ATD via their smartphone. The gates would have done the heavy lifting, verifying the passport and taking a photo that customs could use to bring up your declaration. Seems utterly wild we are spending 4 years building a contact us form (which presumably will still require entering in the same details every single time).

 

[TheRealTMA]

I hear that all the personal data collected by the new system is held by Qantas, not the Australian Government. Gives me great confidence oin the new system.