An Albury, NSW, family was told they'd need to self-isolate if they didn't complete their move to a Wodonga, Victoria, house in one trip, even though both old and new homes lie within the border blue zone.
Moving into NSW remains banned under the present border closure restrictions, but residents have received conflicting information about the reverse shift.
One Albury mother, who preferred not to be named, said Service NSW at first said her family could cross back and forth provided they had documentation about their house move, but later she was advised if they tried to return to NSW, they would need to self-isolate.
"Once we go over there, we can't come back," she said.
"The new house is in Wodonga and we're in East Albury, so we're not out of the bubble, I don't understand why.
"They said it's because it doesn't fall under any of the categories for permits."
But a Border Mail reader said she was told her family, soon to move from Albury to Baranduda, could keep crossing the border to move provided they had a permit and documentation.
Another reader about to shift from Albury to West Wodonga expressed confusion and said she was "starting to feel like a prisoner in Albury not a protected NSW resident".
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Wodonga's Nicole Winter has complained to the NSW ombudsman about being unable to move to Albury to allow her husband, an IT field technician, to continue servicing his NSW region.
"Because we live on the Victorian side of the border, he can only work in the border bubble, which means he can't do nearly 80 per cent of his work," she said.
"We're just trying to get some movement on this. It's a blanket 'no' at the moment."
Ms Winter said her family wanted to do the right thing, but found the situation extremely stressful.
"It's just like another kick in the teeth again, it's so frustrating and you just don't know what to do about it," she said.
"It would be really nice if (NSW government leaders) came down and saw what was going on."
A NSW Department of Customer Service spokesman confirmed no permit category existed for people wanting to relocate into NSW and advised travellers to read more details at nsw.gov.au.
"The NSW government apologises for the frustration and disappointment for people who are not currently eligible to cross the border into NSW," he said.
Asked to clarify the advice, he added "border zone residents must comply with the conditions imposed by the border zone permit".
Member for Albury Justin Clancy said the restrictions on moving particularly impacted on border communities and real estate firms.
"Clearly this needs to be resolved," he said. "I have called for this directly to the premier."
