The permanent visa granted

Today, I received a plain e-mail from our immigration agent. He noted that the immigration office yesterday had granted me a permanent resident visa. Finally, after 15 months, about 120 completed pages of forms and other information and many dollars fees and costs, I can finally be relatively sure to stay in Australia.

Now one could actually celebrate, but the whole process up to here was just as bureaucratic as the issue of the grant. So somehow I do not feel like celebrating. After all, we can now look for a house / apartment to buy, without having to pay additional foreigners taxes.

A temporary visa was granted first in order to facilitate grant of the permanent one (which was done immediately after). So now I do not need to wait another 2 years on the basis of a temporary visa until I finally get the permanent one. That’s good.

Permanent has a different meaning in Australia at least in connection with visas.

If I want to leave the country after 22.03.2023 (after 5 years), I have to apply for a new visa to re-enter, a so-called “Resident Return Visa”. Otherwise it can happen that I will not be admitted again. In this respect, the permanent visa is not permanent.

The Resident Return Visa then is usually issued again for 5 years. During this 5-year period you may travel in and out as often as you like. You only have to spend a total of at least 2 years or 730 days in Australia.

Also on the grant paper one is warned:

“You are required to tell us about any changes to your details as soon as possible. These changes may include your name, passport, contact details, address or family
members. If you do not notify us of your new details, this can have serious consequences for you.”

With 120 pages of completed forms, this can be all kinds of information.

Now I have to read the details again.