190 VISA - General conditions: Returning Resident

[mello19]

Hello ...first post .

Can anyone share with me the T&C's of a 190 in terms of activation and general validity period; also the effects of applying for citizenship if you choose to only act toward the end expirey of the 190, causing you to apply for a returning resident visa. What is the difference?

[Judge]

The 190 would have to be activated before the date stipulated on the visa grant letter. This date is determined by the validity of your police clearance certificates and medicals. These are valid for 12 months, and your first entry needs to be before any one of these "expires".

The visa is granted for five years and, after your initial entry, you would need to return before the five years expire. Once you are here, you will, after the expiry of the five year period, be able to remain in Oz for as long as you like, BUT if you want to travel out of Oz and want to be able to return, you will need a RRV. The RRV subclass and validity period is determined by the amount of time you have spent in Oz. We advise our clients to try and spend at least two years of the initial period of five years in Oz, because then, in general terms, they would qualify for a five year RRV.

Once you have been granted the 190 you can apply for citizenship after you have been a resident of Oz for a period of four years. Of those four years you need to have spent at least 75% of the four years (of which nine months needs to be in the year immediately before you apply for citizenship), in Oz.

The difference between the 190, the RRV and citizenship is that you can apply for a passport once you are a citizen...and you have to vote, defend Australia and do jury duty! None of these wonderful things applies to a person holding a 190 visa or a RRV.

[mello19]

Hi Judge, thank-you for the response.

Would you say it is advisable to stay the full term, four years on the initial 190 visa? is there risk attached to the RRV in the sense that you may not be granted a visa.

Could one do two years on the 190 before expiry and then the remaining two on a RRV in order to apply for citizenship?

In short, I am concerned about the risks of not leaving for Oz immediately or within the first of the five year visa....should I be?

[21yearsoutofrsa]

One of the requirements for applying for Australian citizenship is that you are in Australia for 9 of the 12 months before applying.

I 'm also pretty sure that the citizenship test and citizenship ceremonies are not offered outside of Australia.

http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applying/

[mello19]

Thankyou:)

Edited January 29, 2015 by mello19

[Judge]

Hi Mello

I am not sure that you understand what I set out above. As long as you remain in Australia, you don't need a RRV. Therefore, you could, for example, start residing in Australia two years before your 190 visa expires, and, if you are not intending on leaving Australia in the two years after your 190 has expired, remain here without having applied for a RRV (or any other further visa). In this example you would be entitled to apply for citizenship at the end of this total of four years, although you would only have a 190 visa that had expired two years earlier.

Having said that, I would advise anyone to get here asap in order to become a citizen asap.

I hope that explains it better.

[mello19]

Judge, thankyou for the clarity. 100% understood