Citizenship and RRVs on the Horizon

So it's time to start thinking about visa requirements and citizenship past the initial four year validity of the VE 175 Resident Visa.

As the validity of the visa from 01 Nov 2014 allows multiple entries up to 20 Nov 2018, I would need a Return Resident Visa to fly back to Australia after this date, although my visa allows me indefinite stay if I am in Australia.

As per the website,

"If you are in Australia and the travel facility on your current visa has, or is, about to expire, you need to apply for, and be granted, an RRV before you leave Australia. You can apply for the visa outside Australia, but it must be granted before you enter Australia".

Full details of the RRV are provided on the home affairs page here. and are either of subclass 155 (one year or five years travel facility) or subclass 157 (three months travel facility). The cost of the visa is AUD 365  per applicant and requires a valid passport.

You can apply online straight away without providing any documents and likely to receive a five year facility within a week of the application in most cases, if:
              

you are a permanent resident

you have resided in Australia for a total of at least 2 years within the last 5 years

your name and date of birth have not changed since grant of your last visa.

However, residents that have not resided two years will do a paper application (additional $80) and may be granted only a one year travel facility if they have 'ties of benefit to Australia' or are a dependent family member of someone with a valid RRV (see this link).

Coming on to the subject of citizenship, I must have lived in Australia for the last four years, including the last 12 months as a permanent resident.

For example, considering I was granted a permanent resident visa before arriving in Australia, my first entry to Australia was Feb 2014, which means I may be eligible to apply for citizenship in the first quarter of 2018.

To confirm this, I use the Residence Calculator which allows me to fill in my dates and check with my entry details and dates of travel in and out of Australia between my date of residence and lodgment date for citizenship. However, the results serve only as a guide.

The remaining family may be much later (early 2020) as they had a stay of more than one year outside Australia in the last four years after first entry in Feb 2014 so their effective date to start counting is Oct 2015. Having said that, if I can get my citizenship in 2018 I will be surprised if there isn't a way to fast track their application.

The fee for the application for citizenship is AUD 285 and full information is available on the home affairs website here. 

Plan of Action >> Apply for citizenship in April 2018 then try to fast track the rest of the family. In case citizenship is not granted prior to Nov 2018 we would need to apply for an RRV for each person if we plan to fly out of the country so that we have a valid visa on return. Also keep in mind passports are expiring in Nov 2018 so will need to renew sometime in mid-year 2018.