A resident return visa keeps your permanent residency travel facility alive so you can return to Australia. Registered migration agents in Brisbane explain the 155/157.
A resident return visa (RRV) keeps your permanent residency alive so you can leave and re-enter Australia. Permanent residency doesn’t give you an unlimited right to travel. The travel facility attached to your PR visa expires, usually after five years, and once it does you need a resident return visa to come back into Australia as a permanent resident. If you’re a PR planning to travel, or you’re stuck overseas with an expired travel facility, this is the visa that sorts it out. Our registered migration agents in Brisbane help permanent residents keep their status secure.
A resident return visa is a permanent visa that renews the travel facility of an existing Australian permanent resident (or former permanent resident, or former citizen in some cases). There are two subclasses.
Subclass 155: the standard resident return visa, generally granting a multi-year travel facility.
Subclass 157: a shorter travel facility, used where someone doesn’t meet the residence requirement for the longer 155 but has compelling reasons to travel.
The visa doesn’t change your permanent-resident status itself. What it does is refresh your ability to travel out of and back into Australia. Without a valid travel facility, a permanent resident who leaves can find they’re unable to return until they sort out an RRV, sometimes from overseas.
People are often surprised to learn that PR isn’t a lifetime travel pass. When you’re granted a permanent visa, it comes with a travel facility that usually lasts five years. After that, you’re still a permanent resident while you’re in Australia, but to travel internationally and re-enter as a PR, you need a current travel facility, and that’s what the resident return visa provides.
If your travel facility has already expired and you’re overseas, you generally can’t board a flight back to Australia as a permanent resident until an RRV is granted. That’s why we often help people apply from overseas under time pressure. It’s far easier to renew before you travel than to fix it after.
The main path to a subclass 155 with a longer travel facility is meeting a residence requirement, usually having been in Australia as a permanent resident for a set amount of time within the relevant period before you apply. If you’ve been living in Australia normally, this is usually straightforward.
If you haven’t met the residence requirement, for example because you’ve spent a lot of time overseas for work or family reasons, you may still qualify by showing you have substantial ties of benefit to Australia, or compelling reasons for your absence. Those cases need to be argued properly with evidence, and that’s where good advice makes the difference between a grant and a refusal.
This is the situation that worries permanent residents the most. If you’ve been out of Australia for long stretches, meeting the residence requirement can be a genuine problem. The rules do allow for ties to Australia, business, employment, cultural or personal, and for compelling reasons, but you have to demonstrate them. We help you build that case, and we’ll give you an honest read on your chances before you lodge. If your ties to Australia are strong and settled, citizenship may also be worth considering, because as a citizen you no longer need a travel facility at all. See our Australian Citizenship page.
A resident return visa carries a government application charge, and processing can range from quick to slower depending on your circumstances and whether you meet the residence requirement cleanly. Because these figures change, we’ll give you the current fee and a realistic timeframe in your consultation. If you’re travelling soon, tell us early, because timing matters with these applications.
We check whether you meet the residence requirement for the subclass 155, or need to argue ties and compelling reasons.
We prepare the evidence of your connection to Australia if you’ve spent time overseas.
We advise on the 155 versus the shorter 157 where the residence requirement is an issue.
We handle urgent applications for people stuck overseas with an expired travel facility.
We tell you honestly whether citizenship is the better long-term answer to travel worries.
Only when you want to travel internationally and re-enter Australia as a permanent resident after your travel facility has expired, usually five years after your PR grant. While you stay in Australia, your permanent residency continues without an RRV.
The 155 generally gives a longer travel facility and is the standard option for those who meet the residence requirement. The 157 gives a shorter facility and is used where someone doesn’t meet the residence requirement but has compelling reasons to travel.
It’s generally being present in Australia as a permanent resident for a set amount of time within the period before you apply. Meeting it is the straightforward path to the longer 155 travel facility.
Possibly. If you don’t meet the residence requirement, you may qualify by showing substantial ties of benefit to Australia, or compelling reasons for your absence. These cases need evidence and careful argument, which we can help with.
You generally need a resident return visa granted before you can travel back as a permanent resident. Contact us quickly, because we can often prepare an application from overseas, and timing is important.
It renews your travel facility, not your PR status itself. Your permanent residency continues; the RRV is what lets you leave and return.
If you’re eligible and settled, citizenship removes the need for a travel facility entirely, since citizens have an automatic right to enter Australia. For many long-term PRs it’s the better answer, and we’ll advise on both.
Yes. We regularly help permanent residents apply for a resident return visa from outside Australia, including urgent cases.
