The Australian Department of Immigration & Border Protection (DIBP) is introducing protective measures in response to the WHO
declaration that wild poliovirus transmission is a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern.
Visa applicants applying from outside Australia and
those who have spent a period of 28 days or longer on or after 5 May 2014
in Afghanistan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Somalia or Syria, or in any combination of these countries, should be
vaccinated against polio prior to their departure.
Applicants lodging new applications
should provide this at the time of lodgement. Applicants attending a
medical appointment with a panel physician should take their certificate to the
medical appointment.
If the applicant does not provide the vaccination certificate at
the time they apply, or at the time they undertake their medical appointment,
their case officer may request evidence of polio immunisation status and
this could delay the visa application.
