Seaports officers carry out checks on sea crew

There is never a dull moment for the department's seaports officers.

They could be dealing with the crew of a yacht sinking at sea, stowaways, deserters from a foreign ship, or medical evacuations at sea. But on a 'normal' day the officers process the immigration papers of some of the 130 000 foreign sea crew who arrive in Australia each year.

One of the great parts of their job is that it provides opportunities to travel to proclaimed ports where the visas of foreign crew can be processed.

This includes flying by helicopter to ships anchored at sea, at locations such as the busy coal port of Mackay. About 90 per cent of the sea crew arriving in Australia are the crew of cargo ships. The remainder are cruise ship crews.

The work of Australia's 30 seaports officers has been streamlined with the introduction of the Maritime Crew visa. Following a transitional period of six months, the Maritime Crew visa became mandatory from 1 January 2008 for sea crew entering Australian ports.

Before the introduction of the new visa, sea crew were viewed as 'people of the sea'. This meant they were allowed to enter Australia as long as they could provide certain documentation.

However, to ensure consistency of security checks for all people entering Australia, the Maritime Crew visa was introduced. More than 350 000 visas were granted during 2007–08 with an industry compliance rate of 99.8 per cent.

The visa is a joint initiative of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Australian Customs Service to boost border security.