Australian PR Visa

One can become a permanent resident of Australia by making the visa application or applying for and being granted the permanent Visa, which can allow one to remain in Australia indefinitely. Some of the most common permanent Visas are- Family visas and Skilled Work visas.

Once the Visa is received, being an Australian permanent resident, one will be able to re-enter Australia after they have travelled overseas, but that would depend upon whether or not the travel facility on a permanent Visa of theirs remain valid. No automatic entry right to Australia exists to date.

One would become eligible to become an Australian citizen only if they have met certain requirements, including being a permanent visa holder and also by residing in Australia for a certain time as asked by the authorities.

Benefits of Australian PR Visa

Becoming an Australian permanent resident and being an Australian citizen isn’t the same. But to be a permanent resident of the country, the applicant receives the below-mentioned benefits,

• Remain indefinitely in Australia.
• Study and work in Australia.
• Enroll on Australian National Health Scheme.
• Apply for a bank loan to buy property.
• Sponsoring eligible relatives for permanent residence.
• Applying for the Australian citizenship if one is eligible.
• Stay and work in New Zealand.
• Travel from and to Australia for as long as it has been permitted by the travel facility.
• Attend free English language classes that are provided by the Adult migrant English program.
• One might even qualify for some other governmental services.

If the applicant is holding a permanent Visa but they are not residing in Australia, the eligibility gets affected, and this is why it will be important to contact the government’s departments and the authorities to confirm the obligations and rights.

Like Australian citizens, a permanent resident cannot, in general,

• Hold an Australian passport.
• Have access to student loans.
• Vote for the Australian government in elections unless one is in the role before 26 January 1984 as the British subject.
• Join the Australian Defence Force.
• Return to Australia from overseas without the validity of the travel facility.
• Obtain ongoing work with the Australian government.

Travel facility on the Australian PR Visa

After getting the first permanent Visa, the applicant usually is permitted for 5-year travel facility, which means that they re-enter or leave Australia as many times as they want. This can be done 5 years from the permanent visa grant date until the Visa remains valid. After the expiry of 5 years travel facility, one would be required to apply for/granted either,

• Australian citizenship if they wish to travel as an Australian citizen or
• Resident Return Visa if they wish to re-enter the country as the permanent resident.

If one is willing to enter Australia on a temporary Visa after the expiry of the travel facility of the permanent Visa, it can have an adverse effect.

Travel Facility Expiry Reminder

TFER services are aimed at reminding the permanent resident that the travel facility on a permanent Visa is going to expire in 60 days, but the functionality herein currently is limited to just the visa sub-holders of the below-mentioned,

• Partner visa- Subclass 199
• Resident Return Visa- Subclass 155
• Partner visa- Subclass 801 & 199
• Skilled sponsored visa- Subclass 170
• Employer nomination scheme- subclass 186
• Skilled-independent- Subclass 189

Such reminders are sent to email to the visa holders without any pending RRV applications and personal email addresses recorded within the system. For Visa dependents, if the personal email address is not recorded, then the personal email address of the primary applicant will be used.

Resident Return Visa

If planning to return back to Australia is a permanent resident from the overseas country, there will be the requirement to make an application for the Resident Return Visa subclass 155 or 157 if the travel facility on the permanent Visa has either expired already or is about to expire while one remains outside Australia or if one is the former Australian permanent resident whose last permanent Visa was not cancelled or if one is the former Australian citizen who was either renounced or who lost the citizenship.

The permanent resident status only gets re-instated if the application for the Resident Return Visa is granted, but if it is refused, it is better to apply for another permanent visa, including a former resident visa or skilled Visa or family visa.

If RRV expires, it is to be applied timely, but if the same is refused, consider making the application again for another permanent VISA.

Authority for return or the return endorsement

If the applicant migrated to Australia before the year 1987 and then travelled outside the country between 1st March 1976 and 31st December 1986, the passport will have a wet stamp for proving that the concerned person held,

• Authority to return.
• A return endorsement.

Authority to return or the return endorsement is the old form of return documentation and gets issued by the government to the Australian permanent residents. If this was held before 1st September 1994, one is taken to have been granted the transitional (permanent) Visa by the operation of law on the date 1st September 1994.

The above-mentioned document permits the holder to travel and enter Australia right within 3 years after every single departure from the country and to remain in Australia indefinitely. This document will still be valid if,

• The same was not cancelled.
• One has not become an Australian citizen yet.
• One does not have any other substantive visa that was granted since 1st September 1994. Certain exceptions here exist. Check out the official portal of Home Affairs to know more.
• Holder returned back to Australia right within 3 years of the departure every time.

Australian PR Visa Application Process

Step 1
Start with checking out if you are meeting the Eligibility requirement and then verify if your chosen occupation is present within the list of occupations that are in demand. Next, check for the required points that are based on the points table.

Step 2
In here, take the English proficiency test and check the proficiency of yours in the English language. It is fortunate that the Australian immigration authorities accept scores from different English ability tests, including PTE, IELTS, TOEFL, etc.

Step 3
Get the assessment of the skills through the skills assessment authority. Assessment is done based on skills, work experience and education that are required on the basis of Australian standards.

Step 4
Here there is a requirement to register for the expression of interest on the SkillSelect website of Australia. So, go ahead and fill up the online form and provide the needed responses to the questions that remain based on the visa subclass under which the applicant is making the application.
Three visa categories are offered under SkillSelect Program, under which one can make the application for the PR visa.

• Skilled nominated visa 190
• Skilled independent visa subclass 189
• Skilled regional (provisional) Subclass 491.

Step 5
After the application is submitted and meets up with all the requirements, the applicant receives an invitation to apply for the Australian PR.

Step 6
The next step will be to make the submission for the PR application. One can do so within 60 days, but the application must come along with all the supporting documents that are required for processing the PR visa. The documents listed here include personal, work experience, and immigration documents.

Step 7
The next step is to submit the police and medical clearance certificates.

Step 8
This is the final step where one gets the PR visa.

Permanent Residence Proof

To prove the status of permanent resident, use VEVO for,

• Emailing or printing out the status or
• Giving permission for the organisation or government agency for performing a VEVO check.

The above-mentioned can be done as long as the Visa remains linked with the passport or the ImmiCard.
The access to the VEVO record depends on whether the most recent entry made to Australia by you was before 1990 or after the same.

Before 1990

• If the travel was before 1990, then the record will not exist if you arrived in the country before 1990 and you haven’t travelled since then to overseas countries.
• To request the electronic visa record, one must be able to provide the identity documents, including the evidence of arrival in Australia and the details of a valid passport.
• If one does not have one and they can’t obtain the passport, one might be eligible for the ImmiCard.
• one will be able to access their VEVO account once the Visa is recorded within the system and the passport or ImmiCard are linked with the Visa.

After 1990

• VEVO visa record remains linked with passport.
• In case the passport is renewed, provide the details to the authorities for linking the visa details with the new passport. Only then will one be able to access their VEVO record?

Visa options

One can become a permanent resident of Australia in varied ways. There exist three ways to do the same, and they are discussed below,

Family stream permanent Visa

This Visa is for,

• Children, parents, partners on the dependent relatives of the Australian citizen or permanent resident of the Australia or the eligible New Zealand citizen.
• Any child who has either been adopted or is in the process of getting adopted outside the country.
• Carers who are required to move to the country to provide long-term care for the approved relative.

Business or the investor stream permanent visa

One can explore different permanent visa choices based on the requirement for investment or business.

Workstream permanent Visa
This visa stream is for the workers who have an Australian employer ready to sponsor them for work in the country or the workers who have the skills that Australia values.

Others

• Retirement visa pathway- this has been created for permanent residency for eligible retirees. The pathway helps to provide the option to the long-term resident who contributed towards and remain well established within their community.
• Former resident visa.
• Global talent visa- it is for people with an internationally the recognised record for outstanding and exceptional achievement.
• Humanitarian and refugee visa- it is for anyone who left the country because of persecution.

Points Requirement for Australian PR Visa

There exist various categories under which one can make an application for an Australian PR visa, and these have different eligibility requirements. In case of points requirement, one must be able to score at least 65 points within Points Grid.

• For ages between 25 to 32 years- 30 points
• For English proficiency, 8 bands- 20 points
• For work experience outside Australia, 8 to 10 years- 15 points.
• For work experience in Australia for 8 to 10 years- 20 points
• For education outside Australia (Doctorate Degree)- 20 points
• Niche skills like a Master’s degree or Doctorate degree by research in Australia- 10 points
• Studying in a regional area- 5 points
• State sponsorship 190 visa- 5 points
• Professional year within the skilled program in Australia- 5 points
• Accredited within community language – 5 points
• Skilled spouse or the de facto partner – 10 points
• Spouse or the de facto partner who is competent in English- 5 points
• Applicant without a spouse or the de facto partner or wherein the spouse is the Australian citizen or the PR holder- 10 points
• Relative or the regional sponsorship 491 visa- 15 points

Once all the requirements are met, it becomes easier to get an Australian PR visa.

It might seem like it is not too much for one to manage when it comes to making an application for the Visa, but at times handling all the requirements related to Visa and as asked by the authorities, can become quite hectic and therefore, it is advised to hire a professional who can help out at the right time and increase your chances of getting the PR visa without much delay due to lack of documents or any other requirement to be fulfilled. Remember, the choice is completely yours. So, go ahead and make an application today or appoint someone else to do the same.