Mutley

Hi there

Our families PR expires next month. We are in Australia and have been here for 1.5 years out of the last 5. We will need RRV's for holidays outside Aus and for when our eldest goes travelling after finishing school this year. I understand that we can't apply for an RRV until we have 2 years residency in Aus.

If we apply later on this year when we have 2 years here do we count as former Australian residents as our PR visas will have expired by then?

Am I right in assuming nothing happens when your PR expires in terms of your eligibility to be here (i.e. they don't kick you out!)

Would it make more sense to apply for citizenship?

Thanks in advance

JAJ

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/968i.pdf

You can apply for a 5 year RRV on concessional grounds, if you have "substantial ties" to Australia ... living and working in Australia is a good start.

Only the family breadwinner should go for an RRV now. Family members can apply for RRVs once this has been granted (then it's automatic based on the family head).

You can go for citizenship as soon as you are eligible - 6 months or so - but you should keep valid RRVs at all times in case you need to travel urgently.

Have you done the citizenship test?

pawpaw

You need to stay in Aus for at least 4 years in order to apply for citizenship, right? For RRV, it is 2 years.

Hope i am right on the above

JAJ

They may be able to get citizenship after 2 years, as they came to Australia before 1 July 2007.

You can get a 5 year RRV before 2 years if you have "substantial ties".

comet555

If you have had your PR for a year and a half already then you could apply for citizenship under the old 2 year rule. But you'd have to apply before July 2010 I think.

For example we were granted our visas in Dec 2006. We moved here in May 2007, so in May we will have been here for 2 years. Since we had PR before July 2007 we are eligible under the old 2 year rule. So we are going directly for citizenship. The cost of the RRV is similar to that of getting citizenship as well.

http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applyi...ligibility.htm

In my opinion it makes almost no sense to get RRV's when you can apply for citizenship.

As JAJ said if you're going for citizenship then you'll want to book a date for the test, you need to pass it before you can apply for citizenship. I just booked mine for March which was the soonest I could get (2 month wait for Brisbane).

If you had arrived after July 2007 then you would have come under the new rules which is 4 years.

Mutley

Thanks to all for the helpful replies - I have a much better understanding now.

We initially arrived in Aus in 2004 for validation and settled in Sydney in 2005 but only stayed 6 months before coming out again in 2007, so we come under the old 2 year out of 5 rule for citizenship.

I had no idea of the waiting list for the test which we haven't taken.

If your allowed to include the validation trip (and another short stay in 2007) then I reckon we are within 2 months of getting to 2 years.

The RRV costs $240 so $960 for our family so i'm leaning toward citizenship (which i'm assuming is much the same cost) and just cross fingers that we don't have to leave for any emergencies.

Thanks again all

Pollyana

Yes, you can count the validation trip and the other holiday.
Although the citizenship cost is about the same as the RRV, remember your PR visas are no longer valid for travel so if you wish to travel you will need to get Australian passports.

comet555

I've also discovered passport are quite pricey too! But luckily they are in fact good for 10 years, so the cost of the passports would be similar to getting RRV's for the next 10 years or so. Plus once you've got citizenship it's yours for life, you just never know what will come up so it's still worth the cost in my opinion.