Australian Permanent Residency: Visa Pathways, Benefits, and Citizenship

Australian permanent residency is a status granted through a permanent visa from the Department of Home Affairs, and it lets you live, work, and study anywhere in Australia indefinitely as long as you comply with your visa conditions.¹ It is not citizenship. You cannot vote in federal elections, you cannot hold an Australian passport, and some government roles remain closed to you, but you gain a broad right to build a life in the country and eventually apply for citizenship if you want to.²

How You Get Permanent Residency

There is no single application called “permanent residency.” You become a permanent resident by being granted one of several permanent visas, and the right pathway depends on your circumstances: your skills, whether an employer wants to sponsor you, whether you have close family in Australia, and whether you are willing to live in a regional area.

Skilled Migration

Skilled migration is the most common route and runs on a points system. You need a minimum of 65 points to be eligible for an invitation, with points awarded for age, English ability, work experience, and qualifications.³ Sixty-five is the floor, not the mark that gets you invited. Competitive occupations regularly see invitation rounds at 80 or higher.

Your nominated occupation must sit on one of the skilled occupation lists the Department maintains, including the Core Skills Occupation List, the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, the Short-term Skilled Occupation List, and the Regional Occupation List.⁴ Which list your occupation appears on decides which visa subclasses are open to you.

The three main skilled visas are:

Skilled Independent (subclass 189), a points-tested visa that needs no employer sponsorship or state nomination. You submit an Expression of Interest through SkillSelect and wait for an invitation.
Skilled Nominated (subclass 190), also points-tested at the 65-point minimum, but requires nomination by an Australian state or territory. Each state sets its own criteria, and nomination adds 5 points.³
The regional pathway, a two-step process. You first get the provisional Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491) and live, work, and study in a designated regional area. After holding the 491 for at least three years and providing Australian Taxation Office notices of assessment for three income years, you can apply for the permanent subclass 191 visa.⁵

Employer Sponsorship

The Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) lets an Australian employer nominate a skilled worker for a permanent position when they cannot fill the role locally. The employer must be actively and lawfully operating a business in Australia, and the nominated position must be genuine. Salary thresholds are indexed each year in line with Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings, so the income floor rises annually.⁶

Partner Visas

If you are the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen or permanent resident, the partner visa stream offers a path to permanent status. The onshore version works in two stages. You first get a temporary partner visa (subclass 820), and after two years you become eligible for the permanent partner visa (subclass 801), provided you can show the relationship is genuine and continuing.⁷ Evidence typically includes shared finances, cohabitation, and statutory declarations from your sponsor about the nature of the relationship.

Parent Visas

Parents of Australian citizens or permanent residents can settle in Australia through the parent visa stream. The most common option is the Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143), and it is expensive. The application charge for a single applicant is AUD 48,640, paid across two instalments.⁸ The high fee is intended to offset the future cost of social services. A non-contributory parent visa exists with a much lower fee, but waiting times can stretch to decades.

What You Need to Apply

Every permanent visa application demands substantial supporting evidence. Missing or inconsistent documents are one of the fastest ways to get a refusal or a long delay, so gather everything before you start the online form rather than uploading documents piecemeal.

Skilled visa applicants need a positive skills assessment from the assessing authority that corresponds to their nominated occupation. The assessment confirms that your qualifications and work experience meet Australian professional standards.⁹ Each occupation has a designated assessing body, and fees, processing times, and documentation requirements differ between them.

You must prove English ability through an approved standardized test, such as the International English Language Testing System (Academic or General Training) or the Pearson Test of English Academic.¹⁰ Minimum scores vary by subclass, and scoring above the minimum can earn extra points in the points-tested streams.

Health checks are mandatory. If you are outside Australia, a Department-approved panel physician must conduct the examination, which confirms you do not pose a public health risk.¹¹ Character checks require police certificates from every country where you have lived for 12 months or more in the past 10 years.¹² Applicants in the United States must obtain both a state-level police clearance from each state of residence during the last 12 months and an FBI Identity History Summary Check.¹³ Any documents not in English need a certified translation from a NAATI-accredited translator.

How the Application Works and What It Costs

Applications are lodged online through the ImmiAccount portal. You create an account, complete the visa form, upload documents into the designated categories, and pay the visa application charge. Discrepancies between your form and your evidence trigger requests for additional information that can add months to processing.

Charges vary widely by stream. The Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) starts at AUD 4,910 for the primary applicant.¹⁴ The Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) is AUD 48,640 for a single applicant.⁸ These are government charges only. Your total outlay will also cover the skills assessment, English test, medical exam, police certificates, certified translations, and any migration agent fees.

Processing times range from several months to well over a year depending on the subclass, case complexity, and departmental backlogs. You can track progress through ImmiAccount.

What Permanent Residency Gets You

Once your permanent visa is granted, you can live, work, and study anywhere in Australia without restrictions on employer, industry, or location. You can change jobs freely, which is a real shift from most temporary visas that tie you to a specific sponsor.

You can enrol in Medicare, Australia’s national healthcare system, which provides subsidised medical services and hospital treatment under the Health Insurance Act 1973.¹⁵ Enrolment is available soon after visa grant. You pay the Medicare levy through your tax return (currently 2% of taxable income), and if your income exceeds AUD 101,000 for singles or AUD 202,000 for families and you don’t hold appropriate private hospital cover, an additional Medicare Levy Surcharge of 1% to 1.5% applies depending on your income tier.¹⁶

What you cannot do: vote in federal or state elections (unless enrolled as a British subject before 26 January 1984), hold an Australian passport, or take up certain government positions that require citizenship-level security clearance.² Military service has changed recently: since January 2025, permanent residents from the UK, US, and Canada who have lived in Australia for at least 12 months can apply to join the Australian Defence Force, provided they meet entry standards and can attain Australian citizenship.¹⁷

Waiting Periods for Government Payments

Medicare access is relatively quick, but most income support payments are not. The Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Period applies to permanent residents granted their visa on or after 1 January 2019, and it varies by payment:

Four years for JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance, Austudy, Parenting Payment, Special Benefit, Mobility Allowance, Pensioner Education Supplement, and the Low Income Health Care Card.
Two years for Carer Payment and Parental Leave Pay.
One year for Carer Allowance and Family Tax Benefit Part A.
No waiting period for Family Tax Benefit Part B.

Only days you are physically present in Australia count toward the waiting period, and some visa holders and circumstances qualify for exemptions.¹⁹

Keeping Your Residency If You Travel

Permanent residency gives you an indefinite right to stay in Australia, but the right to leave and come back is a separate thing. When your permanent visa is granted, you typically receive a five-year travel facility that lets you depart and re-enter as many times as you want during those five years.²⁰

Once that window closes, your permanent status does not disappear, but your ability to re-enter after overseas travel does. If you are inside Australia when the travel facility expires and plan to stay put, no action is needed. If you leave Australia after your travel facility has expired, or are already overseas when it lapses, you cannot return as a permanent resident without first obtaining a Resident Return Visa.²¹

A Resident Return Visa (subclass 155 or 157) costs AUD 570. To get a five-year travel facility on the RRV, you must have been physically present in Australia for at least 730 days (two years) in the five years before your application date, as a permanent visa holder or citizen. If you don’t meet the residence requirement, you may still qualify by showing substantial ties to Australia across business, employment, cultural, or personal categories, such as an Australian business role, current employment, membership in cultural associations, or an Australian citizen partner or minor children living here.²¹ If you expect to spend extended periods overseas, keep records of these ties.

When Permanent Residency Can Be Cancelled

Permanent status is not unconditional. Section 501 of the Migration Act 1958 gives the Minister power to cancel a visa on character grounds. A person automatically fails the character test if they have a “substantial criminal record,” which includes being sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months or more, or receiving multiple sentences totalling 12 months or more.²² Failing the test does not mean automatic cancellation; the decision-maker keeps discretion and can weigh mitigating factors, but the visa is genuinely at risk.²³ The character test can also catch conduct short of a criminal conviction in some situations.

Moving On to Citizenship

Permanent residency is the gateway to citizenship, but there is a wait. You must have lived in Australia on a valid visa for four years immediately before applying, with the last 12 months as a permanent visa holder. Across those four years, absences cannot exceed 12 months in total, and in the final 12 months they cannot exceed 90 days.²⁴

The citizenship test is a computer-based exam with 20 multiple-choice questions on Australian values, history, and the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. You must answer all five Australian values questions correctly and score at least 75% overall. The material comes from the official resource “Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond.”²⁵

The application fee is AUD 575 as of late 2025, with fees indexed annually on 1 July based on the consumer price index.²⁶ After approval and the test, you attend a citizenship ceremony where you make the Australian Citizenship Pledge. From that point you can vote, hold an Australian passport, and take up the rights and obligations reserved for citizens.

1
Department of Home Affairs. Permanent Resident
2
Department of Home Affairs. Permanent Resident Entitlements
3
Department of Home Affairs. Skilled Nominated Visa Subclass 190
4
Department of Home Affairs. Skilled Occupation List
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Department of Home Affairs. Permanent Residence Skilled Regional Visa Subclass 191
6
Department of Home Affairs. Employer Nomination Scheme Visa Subclass 186 – Direct Entry Stream
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Department of Home Affairs. Partner Visa Subclass 801
8
Department of Home Affairs. Contributory Parent Visa Subclass 143
9
Department of Home Affairs. Skills Assessment
10
Department of Home Affairs. English Language Visa Requirements
11
Department of Home Affairs. Arrange Your Health Examinations
12
Department of Home Affairs. Character Requirements for Visas
13
Australian Embassy USA. Visa Requirements
14
Department of Home Affairs. Skilled Independent Visa Subclass 189
15
Services Australia. Eligibility for Health Professionals
16
Australian Taxation Office. Medicare Levy Surcharge Income Thresholds and Rates
17
Department of Defence. Residency – The 183 Day Test
19
Social Security Guide. 3.1.2.40 Newly Arrived Residents Waiting Period NARWP
20
Department of Home Affairs. Permanent Residents – Overseas Travel
21
Department of Home Affairs. Resident Return Visa Subclasses 155 and 157
22
Australasian Legal Information Institute. Migration Act 1958 – Section 501 Refusal or Cancellation of Visa on Character Grounds
23
Australian Human Rights Commission. When Can a Visa Be Refused or Cancelled Under Section 501
24
Department of Home Affairs. Become an Australian Citizen by Conferral
25
Department of Home Affairs. Learn About the Citizenship Test
26
Department of Home Affairs. Citizenship Application Fees Form 1298i