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Keep your permanent residence, or make it citizenship.
A permanent visa lets you stay in Australia indefinitely, but the travel facility expires after five years. The Resident Return visa restores your right to travel. When you meet the residence requirement, citizenship by conferral makes Australia home permanently. We handle both, including the difficult cases.
Where people find themselves
Permanent residence is easy to lose track of. These are the situations we help with most often.
My travel facility has expired and I am overseas
Without a Resident Return visa you cannot re-enter as a permanent resident. If you have been away for most of the last five years, substantial ties of benefit to Australia have to be shown. We prepare that case.
I am ready to apply for citizenship
We check the residence calculation to the day, including every absence, then prepare the application, identity and character documents and the test booking.
My residence has gaps or my history is complicated
Long absences, a previous refusal, a character issue or a lost passport all complicate citizenship. We identify the problem before the Department does and address it.
Resident Return visas and citizenship by conferral
The Resident Return visa keeps your permanent residence portable. Citizenship ends the need for it altogether.
Resident Return visa (five years or one year)
For permanent residents and former permanent residents whose last permanent visa was not cancelled.
- Five-year facility: a total of at least two years in Australia in the last five, as a permanent resident or as an Australian citizen
- Shorter facility, usually one year: substantial business, cultural, employment or personal ties of benefit to Australia. The period granted is a matter for the decision maker
- Former citizens and former permanent residents may be eligible, depending on how and when the status ceased. An absence of five years or more also requires compelling reasons for the absence
Resident Return visa (three months)
For those who do not meet the 155 criteria but have been in Australia at least one day in the last five years as a permanent resident.
- Compelling and compassionate reasons for absence
- Short travel facility to return and re-establish residence
- Often the bridge to a later 155
Citizenship by conferral
For permanent residents who meet the general residence requirement and the other criteria.
- Four years lawful residence immediately before applying, the last 12 months as a permanent resident
- Absences of no more than 12 months in the four years and 90 days in the last year
- Citizenship test, good character and intention to reside or maintain a close and continuing association
Alternatives and concessions
Section 22 contains discretions that can treat certain periods differently. Sections 22A and 22B set a separate special residence requirement, and section 23 a defence service requirement. These are alternatives to the general residence requirement, not exemptions from it.
- Spouses and de facto partners of Australian citizens, where there is a close and continuing association during absences
- Applicants aged 60 or over, and applicants with a permanent or enduring physical or mental incapacity, are not required to sit the citizenship test or show English, but they must still meet a residence requirement
- Applicants under 18 are eligible on the basis of age and permanent residence, with no residence requirement and no citizenship test
- New Zealand citizens on a non-protected Special Category visa are taken to be permanent residents for citizenship purposes, so no separate permanent visa is needed
What these applications cost
Two different fee regimes apply. Resident Return visas carry a visa application charge set by the Department of Home Affairs. Citizenship applications carry a separate citizenship application fee. Both are indexed on 1 July each year.
| Application | Amount | Applies from | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident Return visa (subclass 155/157) | AUD 1,475 | 1 July 2026 | Visa application charge. Each applicant lodges and pays separately; there is no reduced family charge. |
| Resident Return visa, paper lodgement | AUD 80 in addition to the charge above | 1 July 2026 | A non internet application charge, payable on top of the AUD 1,475, not instead of it. |
| Provisional Resident Return visa (subclass 159) | AUD 245 | 1 July 2026 | AUD 125 per additional applicant aged 18 or over, AUD 60 per applicant under 18. |
| Former Resident visa (subclass 151) | AUD 6,005 | 1 July 2026 | For former permanent residents who cannot meet the 155 or 157 criteria. |
| Citizenship by conferral, general eligibility | AUD 595 | 1 July 2026 | Citizenship application fee, not a visa charge. |
| Citizenship by conferral, concession | AUD 85 | 1 July 2026 | For applicants who hold a qualifying concession card. |
| Citizenship by conferral, child under 16 on a parent application | Nil | 1 July 2026 | |
| Citizenship by conferral, other situations | AUD 365, or AUD 40 concession | 1 July 2026 | Includes applicants under 18 applying in their own right. |
| Citizenship by descent | AUD 380 for the first applicant | 1 July 2026 | AUD 160 for each additional sibling in the same application. |
| Evidence of Australian citizenship | AUD 290 | 1 July 2026 |
The Department applies indexation to citizenship application fees on 1 July each year, based on the consumer price index, and visa application charges are indexed on the same date. Figures are as at 1 September 2026 and are confirmed for your matter before lodgement. The Department also publishes a residence calculator, which is a useful starting point, but it works from the dates you enter. We reconstruct your travel history from the Department's own movement records before relying on any calculation.
The residence requirement, explained
The general residence requirement for citizenship is calculated to the day. Every absence counts.
- Lawfully present in Australia for the four years immediately before applying, on any visa
- A permanent resident for the last 12 months of that period
- Absent for no more than 12 months in total in the four years, and no more than 90 days in the last 12 months
- No period of unlawful presence in the four years
- Good character, with police clearances for time spent overseas
- Basic English and knowledge of Australia and the responsibilities of citizenship, shown in the citizenship test
- An intention to live in Australia, or to maintain a close and continuing association with Australia
The law we apply
Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth): section 21 sets eligibility for conferral, section 22 the general residence requirement and the discretions within it, sections 22A, 22B and 22C the special residence requirement, and section 23 the defence service requirement. Sections 26 and 28 require the pledge of commitment, and citizenship begins on the day the pledge is made, not on the day the application is approved.
Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), Schedule 2, subclasses 155 and 157, including the residence and substantial ties criteria.
From 1 July 2023 a New Zealand citizen holding a non-protected Special Category visa (subclass 444) may apply directly for citizenship by conferral. For citizenship purposes such a person is taken to be a permanent resident, backdated to 1 July 2022 where the Special Category visa was granted before that date. The four year residence and absence limits still apply.
Visa charges are indexed on 1 July each year, and so are citizenship application fees. Charges and test arrangements are confirmed with you at the time of advice as at 1 September 2026.
How we prepare these applications
Every matter runs under a written agreement that sets out the work and the fee before anything begins.
Residence audit
We reconstruct your travel history from movement records and passports and calculate the residence requirement or the RRV criteria to the day.
Evidence
We gather identity, residence, employment, family and ties evidence, and police clearances for overseas periods.
Lodgement
We lodge the application with a submission where the case relies on substantial ties, a discretion or an explanation of absences.
Test and ceremony
We prepare you for the citizenship test and interview, and follow the application through to the ceremony.
Where these applications go wrong
These are the issues that most often decide this visa. We raise them with you at the first consultation, not after lodgement.
Miscounting absences
A single trip miscounted can push an applicant outside the 90 day or 12 month limits. We check against the Department's movement records rather than memory. Note also that only the final 12 months must be as a permanent resident: the earlier three years may be on a temporary visa, provided you were lawful throughout. Time as an unlawful non-citizen does not count.
Substantial ties overstated
For a one-year RRV the ties must be of benefit to Australia and evidenced. General intentions to return are not enough.
Character disclosure
Traffic matters, overseas convictions and pending charges must be declared. Non-disclosure is itself a character issue.
Identity documents
Name changes, inconsistent dates of birth across documents and expired passports delay or derail citizenship applications.
Resident Return and citizenship questions
Do I need a Resident Return visa if I am staying in Australia?
I have been outside Australia for more than three years. Can I still get an RRV?
How long does citizenship take?
Can my children be included?
Do I have to give up my other citizenship?
Have your residence checked to the day
Send us your passports and travel history and we will tell you whether you qualify now, when you will, and what to do if there is a problem.
The information on this page is general in nature, current as at 1 September 2026, and does not take account of your individual circumstances. It is not immigration assistance or legal advice. Visa criteria, charges, thresholds and processing priorities change; the requirements that apply to your matter are confirmed at the time of advice under a written agreement. No agent can guarantee a visa outcome. Migration Star, Registered Migration Agents, MARN 1797395.