The Australian Government has created a pathway to permanent residency for eligible retirees
This pathway provides options to long-term residents who have contributed to, and are well established in the community
ELIGIBILITY
You may be eligible to apply for a pathway to permanent residency if you have:
Held a Retirement visa (subclass 410) or Investment retirement (subclass 405) visa OR
Your last substantive visa was a retirement visa (subclass 410) or investment retirement visa (subclass 405)
You must also:
Not have held any substantive visas other than those stated above between 8 may 2018 and the day applied for the permanent residence pathway, and
Be in Australia when you apply
PATHWAY OPTIONS
Eligible Retirees may access the pathway through:
Parent Visa (subclass 103) or
Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143)
You will be subject to most of the existing requirements, however the sponsorship, balance of family test and assurance of support requirements are not tested
PATHWAY OPTIONS
No places will be available for retirees under the Parent visa (subclass 103) until 2022
Waiting times for Parent (subclass 103) visas are significantly longer than those for Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) visas
Priorities are given to retirees who apply under the Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) category until places become available in the Parent visa subclass from 2022
This permanent visa allows former permanent residents and certain people who served in the Australian Defence Force to live in Australia
Can stay in Australia permanently
Can work and study in Australia
Can sponsor your relatives to come to Australia
Can include members of the family unit in your application when you apply
STAY
Permanently
Can travel to and from Australia as many times as you want for 5 years
If you want to travel after the initial 5-year travel validity expires:
you will need to apply for and be granted a Resident Return (RRV) so that you can re-enter Australia as a permanent resident
ELIGIBILITY
Be able to meet long residence requirement, if applicable
You must be able to show us that you meet all these criteria:
If you are 18 years or older, spent at least 9 years in Australia as a Permanent resident before you turned 18 or if you are younger than 18, spent at least half of your life in Australia as a permanent resident
Younger than 45 years of age at the time you apply
Have never been an Australian citizen
Kept close business, cultural or personal ties with Australia (after you were no longer a permanent resident), including any regular contact with relatives or friends, frequent visits, owning property or having active business interests
Be able to meet defence service requirement, if applicable
You must be able to show us that you meet one of these conditions:
Completed at least 3 months of continuous Australian defence service
Discharged from the Australian Defence Force before 3 months of service because you were medically unfit because of your Australian defence service
Be this age:
To meet the long residence requirement, you must be younger than 45 at the time of application.
There is no age requirement for the defence services requirement.
Must apply on paper
Meet health and character requirement
Might be asked to provide an Assurance of support
Not have had visa cancelled or previous application refused