Pathways to Australian Permanent Residence
Every year, the Department of Home Affairs of Australia grants a certain number of permanent resident visas. The number of permanent resident visas that can be granted is managed through the government’s “Migration Program Planning Levels”. In 2021 to 2022, the overall planning level is 160,000 permanent visas to be granted consisting of Skill, family, special eligibility and child visas.
People can become a permanent resident of Australia in different ways. Generally, there are three common ways of becoming a permanent resident.
Family-stream permanent visas
Partners children parents or dependent relatives of an Australian citizen permanent resident of Australia or Eligible New Zealand citizen
Children being adopted or in the process of being adopted outside of Australia
Carers who need to move to Australia to provide long-term care for an approved relative
Work-stream permanent visas
These visas are for workers who have an Australian employer or state /territory government sponsoring and nominating them to work and live in Australia, or have skills that Australia values.
There are a number of visa options for this stream of permanent visas, including independent skilled visa, state/territory nominated skilled visa, regional state/territory or relative nominated provisional visa (permanent visa to be assessed and granted upon meeting certain requirements), employer nomination scheme (186DE and 186TRT) and regional employer sponsored visa (permanent visa to be assessed and granted upon meeting certain requirements). Please refer to the “Skilled Visa” section on our website for more details.
Business or investment-stream permanent visas
These visas are popular to business owners or investors who wish to bring their business and investment skills to Australia. This visa allows you to own and manage a business in Australia, conduct business and investment activity in Australia or undertake an entrepreneurial activity in Australia. The business or investment visas are 5-year provisional visas. Visa holders need to meet certain requirements including meeting business and investment criteria as well as residence requirement to be granted a permanent visa under this stream. Please refer to the “Business Skills Visa” section on our website for more details. Australia has one of the most complex visa and migration systems in the world and rules are constantly changing. Talk to the experts at Future Connect Education and Migration Services to discuss your pathways to permanent residence.