VISA FOR RESIDENT RETURN, SUBCLASS 155
Return Resident Visa
A subclass 155 visa could be granted to you if you:
- satisfy the residency requirement (5-year facility)
- have beneficial ties to Australia (1-year travel permit)
- are a relative of someone who has applied for or currently has a Resident Permit
- returns with a valid visa and meets the requirements for a one-year travel permit.
fulfilling the residency requirement
If you spent a minimum of two of the previous five years in Australia as a permanent resident or citizen, you have met the residency requirement.
have favourable ties to Australia
If you don’t meet the residency requirement, but you have strong ties to Australia in terms of business, culture, employment, or personal relationships, you might be eligible for the subclass 155 visa:
Benefiting business relationships: You have a sizable stake in a company and a high level of personal involvement in its day-to-day management and operations. The business activity must be ongoing, commercial in nature, and supported by a system of record keeping and management.
Cultural ties that are advantageous: You engage in educational, artistic, recreational, athletic, or religious activities that enrich Australian culture.
Employment ties of benefit: You are currently employed or have a formal job offer in Australia, or you are employed overseas by an Australian company, or you are employed by a non-Australian company that demonstrates a clear benefit to Australia, such as when you represent Australia for an international organisation.
If you haven’t visited Australia in a while
Additionally, you must disclose any absences if you are:
- submitting an application in Australia but staying abroad nonstop for more than five years
- When you last left Australia, you were either a permanent resident or a citizen, and you were gone nonstop for more than five years. You are applying from outside of Australia.
- When applying from outside of Australia, you must have been a permanent resident or citizen within the previous ten years and have spent more than five years abroad.
a member of the family has a resident return visa or has applied for one.
If you don’t meet the residency requirement, but are a family member of someone with a subclass 155 or 157 visa, or who has applied for a Resident Return visa and meets the requirements for grant, you may be eligible for a subclass 155 visa.
You can be any of the following to belong to someone else’s family:
- his or her companion
- a dependent child of theirs
- their dependent child’s partner.
length of the visas
Even though the subclass 155 and 157 visas are permanent visas, this does not necessarily mean that they are valid indefinitely.
- If you stay within Australia, the visa is valid indefinitely (it never expires), and when the travel facility expires, you won’t be considered illegal.
- The visa will expire when you depart Australia if you decide to travel outside of Australia after the visa’s travel allowance has run out. Therefore, it is best to submit an application for a new Resident Return visa before departing Australia. A foreign application is also possible.
Location
If you are in Australia and your current visa’s travel authorization has expired or is about to do so, you must apply for an RRV before you depart the country. You may leave Australia even if your resident return visa application has not yet been approved, but please make sure you have a re-entry visa before leaving.
Although you can apply for the visa outside of Australia, it needs to be approved before you can enter the country.
155 dollars for the visa application.
Applying online costs AUD465.
Processing duration
- 1 day for 75% of applications
- 51 days for 90% of applications