Pathway to permanent residency opened for retirees holding Subclass 405/410 visas
After an announcement back in May 2018, the Federal Government has finally legislated changes opening a pathway to permanent residency for retirees holding Subclass 405 or 410 visas.
This is a welcome development and long overdue! In our experience, most of the cohort of 405/410 holders are British and, were effectively stranded as temporary residents requiring the re-investment of their life savings into Government bonds for many of them, at a time in their lives when those funds were most needed.
Timpson Immigration recently published an article in the Seniors News about the changes. The permanent residency pathway will be opened under the Subclass 103 and 143 programs, exempting applicants from satisfying the balance of the family test and sponsorship requirements. Other requirements will still need to be met and the correct pathway decided on, given the huge range in processing times and Government fees in the 103/143 visa program at present.
In that regard, it is interesting that both the contributory and non-contributory parents’ visas are being opened-up. Which of those is proceeded with will likely come down on the capacity of the applicant to pay fees or, wait for a protracted period for a decision. Entitlement to the new arrangement is far from being automatic like all visas – the applicant will need to satisfy a whole range of requirements in terms of their health, character as well as a range of other things.
Should you seek more guidance on the changes and what they mean for you and what option you could choose, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
