[Canaus]

I was born in Canada in 1980, moved to Australia as a toddler in 1984 (permanent residence), then moved back to Vancouver in 1987 with my parents to look after my grandma after she had a stroke. I've been wanting to return ever since, but found out my "permanent" residence was no longer valid once I finally had the finances to make it happen.

But coincidentally I married a Kiwi living in Canada and found out I was eligible for an NZ spouse visa (461). We will return to Australia "permanently" in February.

Of course it's not really permanent, I have to renew every five years and can't vote/get medicare/etc. Finances aren't a concern anymore, but regaining the security of permanent residence would be nice. The possibility of being booted out of the country just because visa rules might change makes committing to a country somewhat stressful. I don't want to come back to Canada a second time.

So, my question is, once I am settled in Aus again and have lived there for 4+ years on the 461, can I apply for a resident return visa and get my permanent residence back? I'm abandoning everything in Canada and setting up my life in Australia with my wife, so in theory I'll have significant ties. It's also likely I'll own property by then. Would the manner in which I re-established "significant ties" to Australia matter to the powers that be?

Would like opinions from RMAs especially. Thanks.

 

[paulhand]

There are a lot of hypotheticals here and anything could change in the RRV regulations in that time. As things stand, your issue would be far more about establishing ‘compelling reasons’ for an absence of 30+ years rather than demonstrating the significant ties.

Have you already got, or applied for, your 461? - they are not being processed very fast these days.

 

[Canaus]

I already have the 461, plane tickets, and a place to stay for the first 4.5 months.

I was hoping the compelling reasons would be that I am a (former, I guess) permanent resident whose entire life is in Australia. No?

 

[paulhand]

It’s a 2 part test in your case:

First, you need to establish the substantial ties part (entire life in Australia), then if you pass that, you also need to demonstrate compelling reasons for your long absence (or, more precisely, the long period since you were last a permanent resident).

 

[Canaus]

I guess my answer would be that I left as a child, without the option to stay behind at that age, and came back as soon as I could afford to. Had to wait until condo properties started going up, which was only a few years ago, then sold.

It's too bad I lost my Australian accent, that would probably make me more believable as a "true Aussie."