Customs in Australia

While customs, immigration, and agriculture rules are the same across Australia procedures differ from airport to airport. You may clear on your aircraft, at a fixed base operator (FBO) or within the main terminal depending upon destination. Vehicles may or may not be permitted to pick up planeside. Always check customs requirements for your particular destination with your ground handler in advance.

Here are six tips to help you navigate the customs, immigration, and agriculture process in Australia:

1. Be familiar with the customs clearing procedures for crew

Crew usually clear customs after passengers unless customs clearance is onboard the aircraft, in which case they’ll clear at the same time. Onboard customs clearance, when available, should be requested in advance, and there are limitations on how many may be cleared. At Brisbane (YBBN), for example, onboard clearance is limited to 10 people onboard, crew and passengers combined. If you have more than one passport, always use the same one for arrival and departure. Crew must provide the ground handler with copies of the general declaration (Gen Dec) on arrival, and crew should submit a form similar to arrival passenger cards, which your ground handler will prepare in advance. While crew members don’t technically require visas, some locations, like Sydney (YSSY), prefer to see visas for all crew members. Best practice for crew is to apply for multi-entry electronic visas prior to arrival in Australia.