Australian Incoming Passenger Card: Customs, Biosecurity, and Penalties

Every person arriving in Australia has to complete an Australian Incoming Passenger Card before clearing the border, and that card is a legal declaration once you sign it. On it you must declare goods above the duty-free limits, cash of AUD $10,000 or more, any food, plant, animal or soil-contaminated items, all medicines you are carrying, and — if you are not an Australian citizen — any criminal convictions. Getting a declaration wrong can cost between $660 and $6,600 in on-the-spot fines, and for visa holders it can lead to cancellation and removal from the country.¹

How the Card Works

Flight attendants or ship staff hand out the paper card during the final leg of your journey. Fill it out in English using a blue or black pen and mark boxes with an “X.” You sign and date it before handing it to a border officer. That signature is what turns your answers into a legal declaration held on record by the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.²

The identity section asks for your full name, passport number, flight number or ship name, occupation, the country where you boarded, and your intended address in Australia. Non-Australian citizens answer additional questions about migration status, health, and criminal history. Reference copies of the card are available in over 40 languages on the Australian Border Force website, but the card you actually submit must be completed in English.

One rule governs every section that follows: if you are not sure whether something must be declared, declare it. Officers will not fine you for declaring an item that turns out to be harmless. They will fine you for failing to declare something that isn’t.

Customs and Duty-Free Limits

The customs section asks whether you are carrying goods above Australia’s duty-free thresholds. The allowances are tighter than many travelers expect, particularly for tobacco.

Tobacco: one unopened packet of up to 25 cigarettes (or 25 grams of other tobacco products) plus one opened packet. Exceed that and you owe duty on the entire amount, not just the excess.³
Alcohol: travelers aged 18 or older can bring up to 2.25 litres of alcoholic beverages duty-free, regardless of where they were purchased.⁴
General goods: personal items such as gifts, souvenirs, cameras, and electronics are duty-free up to a combined value of AUD $900 for adults.⁵
Commercial goods: duty-free allowances do not cover goods you intend to sell. Business travelers carrying commercial samples or merchandise worth over AUD $1,000 may need a customs entry, and some items require import permits regardless of value.⁴

Cash of AUD $10,000 or More

If you are carrying physical currency or bearer negotiable instruments worth AUD $10,000 or more, declare it on the card and complete AUSTRAC’s Cross-Border Movement form (CBM-MI-FORM 53). You can submit the form online before travel or hand a paper copy to a Border Force officer at the airport.⁶ Failing to report is a serious offense, carrying a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment or 500 penalty units, or both.⁷

Biosecurity: Food, Plants, Animal Products, Soil

This is the section that catches most travelers, and the section officers take most seriously. Australia’s isolation has kept out pests and diseases found elsewhere, and the government invests heavily in keeping it that way. The card asks whether you are bringing in food, plant material, animal products, soil, or used outdoor equipment.

All food must be declared. Commercially prepared and packaged items such as roasted nuts or sealed dairy products are generally allowed after inspection, but many common items are restricted or outright prohibited.⁸ Fresh fruit, raw vegetables, uncooked eggs, raw meat, and homemade foods are among the items you should expect to have confiscated if you bring them at all.⁹ Honey is permitted in most states but faces stricter rules for Western Australia because of that state’s quarantine protections for bee populations.

Hiking boots, camping gear, wetsuits, and bicycles used overseas must be thoroughly cleaned and dried to remove soil, seeds, and plant material before arrival. These items may be inspected at the border, and any visible soil or organic matter can trigger a fine.¹⁰

Medicines You Are Carrying

Declare all medicines and medical substances when you arrive. This catches many travelers off guard because they assume personal prescriptions don’t count. They do.¹¹

Most prescription medicines, including controlled substances such as opioids and benzodiazepines, are covered by a traveler exemption as long as you meet all of the following conditions:

No more than a three-month supply.
A prescription or a letter from your doctor, in English, confirming the medicine is prescribed to you.
The medicine stays in its original packaging with the dispensing label intact.
You carry it in your accompanied luggage, not in a separately shipped parcel.

All medications containing codeine require a prescription regardless of strength.¹² Anabolic steroids and human growth hormones can be brought in under the same conditions, but athletes or anyone associated with an athlete must obtain a separate permit from the Office of Drug Control. Medicinal cannabis in a reusable vape must also meet the traveler exemption requirements. A few substances fall outside the exemption entirely and require written permission from the Office of Drug Control before you travel, including mifepristone and yohimbine.¹¹

Criminal Convictions (Non-Citizens)

Non-Australian citizens must answer questions about criminal convictions on the card. Declare all convictions, no matter how old they are or whether they have been expunged from government records in your home country.¹³ This trips up travelers from countries where spent convictions are routinely hidden from background checks. Australia does not recognize those protections at the border.

A conviction on its own does not automatically mean you will be turned away. But under the Migration Act’s character test, a “substantial criminal record” (defined as a sentence or combined sentences totaling 12 months of imprisonment or more) gives the government mandatory grounds to cancel your visa.¹⁴ If you have a criminal record and plan to visit, the Australian High Commission in your country can provide a pre-departure assessment before you fly.

Penalties for False or Missing Declarations

The legal authority behind the card comes from the Migration Act 1958 for immigration matters and the Biosecurity Act 2015 for quarantine and goods declarations.¹⁵ Penalties scale with the seriousness of the breach.

On-the-Spot Biosecurity Fines

Officers at the airport can issue infringement notices when they find undeclared biosecurity risk items:

Basic failure to declare: 2 penalty units ($660) for undeclared goods that contravene the Biosecurity Act’s declaration requirements.
High-risk goods not declared: 6 penalty units ($1,980) or 12 penalty units ($3,960), depending on the assessed biosecurity threat.
Concealed goods: 20 penalty units ($6,600) if you actively hid items to prevent officers from finding or identifying them.¹

These are civil penalties. Larger civil penalties can be pursued through the courts, and criminal prosecution remains a possibility for the most egregious breaches.

Visa Cancellation

The consequences on the immigration side can be more severe than any fine. The Minister or a delegate can cancel visitor, student, and work visas during immigration clearance if you provide false or misleading information to a biosecurity officer, fail to answer questions about goods on your card, or refuse to follow a biosecurity direction.¹⁶ A cancelled visa typically leads to detention and removal from Australia. Australian citizens who refuse to complete the card can also be penalized, though they cannot be denied entry to their own country.²

Effects on Future Travel

A biosecurity infringement notice does not stay in a vacuum. If you received a fine while traveling on a visa, you may be referred to Australian Border Force officers for visa cancellation on top of the financial penalty.¹ A visa cancellation on your record can make future Australian visas significantly harder to obtain, since the character test asks about prior refusals and cancellations.

The Digital Pilot

A digital alternative called the Australia Travel Declaration (ATD) is being tested. As of early 2026 the pilot is limited to selected passengers on Qantas flights into Brisbane who receive an invitation through the Qantas app. Everyone else still completes the paper card.² The government has indicated plans to expand the program to other airlines and airports, but no timeline has been set.

1
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Infringement Notices at the Airport
2
Australian Border Force. Incoming Passenger Card
3
Australian Border Force. Duty Free
4
Australian Border Force. Duty Free
5
Department of Home Affairs. Entering Australia – Duty Free
6
AUSTRAC. Cross-Border Movement of Monetary Instruments Form
7
AUSTRAC. Cross-Border Movement Reports
8
Australian Border Force. What Food Can You Bring In
9
Australian Border Force. List of Items You Can and Cannot Bring In
10
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Returning to Australia
11
Australian Border Force. What Medicines and Substances Can You Bring In
12
Office of Drug Control. Travelling to or From Australia With Medicines and Medical Devices
13
Australian High Commission New Zealand. Travelling With a Criminal Conviction
14
AustLII. Migration Act 1958 – Section 501 Refusal or Cancellation of Visa on Character Grounds
15
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Travelling to Australia
16
Department of Home Affairs. Cancelling a Visa