PR Overseas Travel Expiry
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As an Australian permanent resident, you do not have an automatic right to return to Australia from overseas.
Your right of re-entry to Australia will depend on the validity of your travel facility on your permanent visa. Your travel facility is listed in both your visa grant notification letter.
If you migrated to Australia before 1987, and travelled outside Australia between 1 March 1976 and 31 December 1986, your passport may have been wet stamped to prove that you hold an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement.
The Authority to Return and Return Endorsement wet stamps appear in your expired passport as follows:
When you are granted a permanent visa, you are usually permitted a 5-year travel facility.
This means you can leave and re-enter Australia as many times as you like in the 5 years from the date your permanent visa was granted, as long as your visa remains valid.
After 5 years, your travel facility expires. You will need to apply for and be granted either:
- a Resident Return visa - if you wish to re-enter Australia as a permanent resident
- Australian citizenship - if you wish to travel as an Australian citizen.
If you enter Australia on a temporary visa when the travel facility on your permanent visa has expired, this will have an adverse impact on you.
If you are not eligible for either of the above and wish to return to Australia as a permanent resident, you may have to apply again for a permanent visa, such as a Former Resident visa, a family visa or a skilled visa.
If you migrated to Australia before 1987, and travelled outside Australia between 1 March 1976 and 31 December 1986, your passport may have been wet stamped to prove that you held either:
- an Authority to Return (issued between 1 March 1976 and 31 August 1979)
- a Return Endorsement (issued between 1 September 1979 and 31 December 1986)
An Authority to Return or a Return Endorsement is an old form of return documentation issued to Australian permanent residents. If you held an Authority to Return or a Return Endorsement immediately before 1 September 1994, you are taken to have been granted a Transitional (Permanent) visa by operation of law on 1 September 1994.
The Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) permits the holder to travel to and enter Australia within 3 years after each departure from Australia, and to remain indefinitely in Australia.
An Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) could still be valid if:
- it has not been cancelled
- you have returned to Australia within 3 years of each departure
- you have not become an Australian citizen
- you have not had another substantive visa granted since 1 September 1994. This does not include the granting of:
- an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (subclass 956, 976, 977, or 601) visa granted on or after 1 July 2002
- a Border (Subclass 773) visa granted on or after 1 July 2002
- a Visitor (Subclass 600) visa granted under the Business Visitor stream in conjunction with APEC Business Card
- a special purpose visa
If you currently hold an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa), you cannot apply for a Resident Return visa. If you were granted a Resident Return visa after 1 September 1994, this would have automatically ceased your Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa).
If you hold a valid Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa), evidenced by an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement stamp in an expired passport, you should carry both your expired and new passport when travelling to Australia in order to be allowed re-entry. We recommend that you apply to have your Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) recorded as an electronic record in the Department’s systems.
If you have not travelled since 1987
In 1987, Australia began processing visas electronically. If you migrated to Australia before 1987 and have not travelled overseas since, we are unlikely to have an electronic record of your permanent visa.
If you held an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement wet stamp in your passport, you may hold a Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa). You can apply to have it recorded as an electronic record in the form of a BF-111 to facilitate re-entry to Australia. You cannot apply for a Resident Return visa.
Note: A BF-111 is not a type of visa that you can apply for. It is only an electronic record of your wet stamp to recognize that you hold an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa).
