How to fill out the Victorian Border Entry Permit Form If You Are Blind or Vision Impaired

[Update as of Sun 12/12/2020: Vic and NSW border residents only need to show their driver’s license or similar proof of ID, so no need to fill out a permit.]

From 11:59 P.M. on Fri, 18 Dec 2020, The Victorian Government introduced a permit for any person who wishes to re-enter the Victorian border, including non-NSW residents. If you live in the Red zone (Northern Beaches), you categorically cannot enter the border. If you live in the orange or green zones (Green being inclusive of regional NSW, you must possess a permit. If you live on the border of Vic and NSW as a Vic resident then you must fill out the form.

Unfortunately, the form you have to fill out is not entirely accessible to screen reading technologies. Contained below are some instructions on how to fill it out without sighted help - these have only been tested with Google Chrome on Windows 10 64-bit, v2004 with NVDA:

• Click or press enter here on this link to go directly to the page to fill out the form.
• There are text boxes that are invisible to the sighted browser but will be picked up by the screen reader’s virtual viewer / buffer. What you type is preserved but nothing appears on the screen. Just ignore these.
• Specify if you are a once off or recurring traveller. Press enter on the text that identifies your option and then you should be able to go to the next step.
• Click next.
• Now fill out your personal details which will be deleted as soon as you are done. This is easy. Simply provide:
  • Given name (that is, all given names in full, including your middle name).
  • Family (last) name.
  • Phone number (landline or mobile), something with probably at least eight-ten digits.
  • In the next two fields, type in your email and then type it again in the next field to confirm it.
  • Type in your address. This is a little tricky but if you type out your address one character at a time and listen for the alerts from the autocomplete text field, you should eventually hear your address. Press enter when you hear it. You may have to type most of your address to do this.
  • Identify who is travelling. Again, there will be invisible text fields… just ignore them. Press enter on the option that suits your permit identification i.e. whether it is for yourself only, or if you have any dependents then select that one as well.
  • The next button will not immediately appear. To make it appear, press control+home to move to the top of the webpage, then hold down the down arrow key untill you find the next button - you may have to attempt this several times. Do not try the shortcut of using control+end to go to the bottom of the webpage, or else it won’t work. Press enter or the space bar when you find it.
• Check all the boxes that apply. The screen-reader will probably not announce the changed state of the checkbox but trust me, it should change. Sometimes the next part of the form doesn’t appear. If this happens then try the trick referenced above by going to the top of the page and scrolling down. Works with NVDA at least.
• Enter the date you are departing on. The format to enter in is dd/mm/yyyy i.e. 19/12/2020, which obviously translates to 19 Dec 2020.
• Specify where you are leaving from. Ignore the technically non-existent text fields and press enter on either “My home” or “other address”. If you selected the latter option then you will have to enter the address, in the same way you entered your residential address.
• Declare where you are going to. You must name either a person or organisation, company or some such similar entity. You can type in this field. You must also use autocomplete to enter in the exact address.
• Press enter on whether you are on a one-way or return trip. If you are returning then type in the date - probably best to put a date towards the end of the next month, especially if it is a recurring series of trips.
• Go to the top of the page and scroll down to make the next button appear and click / press on it.
• Check the checkbox by pressing space bar to agree to the information - again, the \control state will not appear to change but it does.
• Submit the form.

If your email actually arrives then you should be fine. It promises to arrive within a few minutes but a family member of mine has been waiting for a few hours and it still hasn’t arrived.

Hope this helps for anyone who needs it.