After Australia gradually reopened its borders last November, overseas arrivals have steadily returned to normal. With the recent removal of special pandemic-era entry requirements such as vaccination certificates and the DPD form, international travel to and from Australia has largely returned to its pre-pandemic state (though remember to wear a mask and take care of your personal health).

At the same time, people who had been “stuck” inside Australia for nearly two years have also been heading out to travel. Major airports such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane experienced brief chaos over Easter and various long weekends due to heavy passenger volumes.

Perhaps because it had been so long since anyone travelled abroad, even Australian locals sometimes forget about the routine but important task of [border declaration].

Recently, a young woman was fined AUD $2,664 because she failed to declare a Subway sandwich she had bought during a transit stop…

The Story / Here’s What Happened

The woman, named Jessica Lee, lives in Perth. She had flown from Australia to Europe for a holiday and was recently transiting through Singapore

on her way back to Australia. She bought a Subway at Singapore Airport, thinking she’d be hungry during the long flight. She finished half of it before boarding her connecting flight, and thought she’d save the other half to eat on the plane.

Buying food and drink at the airport and taking it on board is a perfectly ordinary thing to do.

However, Jessica didn’t end up finishing the other half of the sandwich on the plane, and she didn’t want to throw it away either — perhaps she was planning to eat it on the way home.

As everyone knows, shortly before the plane lands, the cabin crew hand out incoming passenger cards so you can declare the items you need to declare. Some flight attendants will even kindly remind you that you can ask them if you have any questions.

But Jessica may have been a little too confident. When filling out her declaration card, she only thought about the food items she had already packed in her luggage, and didn’t think of the Subway she had bought during transit, so she didn’t declare the chicken and lettuce in the Subway.

It was those few slices of chicken and lettuce that cost her AUD $2,664.

Although this expensive little mistake left her in tears, she still filmed a short video to warn others and sincerely admit her error: “I’m well aware this was my mistake. I do need to take full responsibility, and I’m paying the fine.”

According to her, she had already quit her previous job before travelling to Europe, so she’s currently unemployed and still has to pay her own rent. This fine has made a bad situation even worse and left her even more strapped for cash.

Understand the rules. Don’t underestimate them, and don’t count on luck.

● Fill Out the Declaration Card Properly

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment said: “All meat products and vegetables must be declared on the Incoming Passenger Card — this is a legal declaration.” Travellers who fail to declare or make a false declaration and thereby breach the Biosecurity Act can be fined up to AUD $2,664.

All airlines flying into Australia play a biosecurity video or announcement shortly before landing, emphasising biosecurity risks to passengers and explaining why it is necessary to declare food and ingredients. They also recommend leaving all food on board. This is compulsory “education” information on every flight. Similar information is also displayed in the arrivals area of the airport. In short: emphasise, emphasise, emphasise.

If you don’t want to declare something on arrival, you can, as noted above, leave it on the plane, or drop it into one of the dedicated biosecurity bins in the arrivals area.

● The Australian Border Force Website Has Clear Instructions

If you want to familiarise yourself ahead of time, the Australian Border Force website has very clear guidance. For food items like those in this story, it lists what must be declared (Declare), what you cannot bring or what requires special approval to bring (Don’t bring it), and what can be brought in directly (Bring it). Click into each item for a detailed description — and note that some items are only allowed up to a certain quantity.

Save this link and read it carefully, and border declaration shouldn’t be a problem:https://www.abf.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/can-you-bring-it-in/overview

The Story / Has a Twist

Jessica’s video has been viewed more than one million times. Plenty of people left comments asking whether Subway was going to do something about this — tagging @Subway: what do you all think?

And then — they actually did!

Ding-dong, Subway stepped in! They sent her AUD $2,664 worth of vouchers, along with some merchandise (also a nice opportunity to win over fans).

Finally

All in all, not everyone has Jessica’s “good luck.” Take a close look at the penalties below for “failing to declare as required” and keep them in mind — you could not only be fined, but also prosecuted and have your visa cancelled.