For many years, the position has been a very difficult one for those in the retirement cohort of visa holders (namely a Subclass 405 or 410 visa). In that sense, there is a growing number of aging persons who are here in Australia on a temporary basis, with no pathway to becoming permanent residents other than needing to apply every few years for one of the above visa subclasses at considerable expense.
The difficulty with respect to this visa is the temporary status that is attributed to those who hold it, as well as the not-insignificant fees that the federal government charges in terms of renewals. In our experience, we have dealt with many people who are on their multiple such visa where they are desperate in which to stay here on a more permanent basis however, their capacity to do so is limited. These are people who have made a considerable investment and contribution to the Australian community but as they advance into their more elderly years, find that their capacity to stay in this country is uncertain.
In that regard, of welcome news to many of those persons hopefully is the federal government’s announcement of the introduction of a pathway to permanent residency for holders of these visa types. To that end, we understand that those persons on retirement visas will be eligible to apply for a permanent visa through the parent or contributory parent visa streams and will be exempt from meeting the requirement known as the ‘balance of the family test’ which they would typically be unable to meet and which has previously precluded them from accessing those programs.
Of further interest is the reality that the pathway will apparently remain open until all retirement visa holders who wish to transition to permanent residency have expert done so but that in the 2018/19 program year, a number of apparent permanent migration places will be quarantined for these visa applicants to create pressure on the already downward movements on migration numbers.
As part of the establishment of the relevant pathway in question, the Subclass 405 will also become closed to new applicants as the Subclass 410 visa had been for a number of years.
This information has been updated see our latest article here.
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