How do we get permanent residency and citizenship?

Most British people arrive on a temporary visa. Permanent residency (PR) lets you stay for good and is the step before citizenship. Here are the usual routes and the rules that trip people up.

Routes from a temporary visa to PR

Points, occupation lists, age limits and income tests change often. Check the current rules on the Home Affairs website before you plan around them.

What PR gives you

• Live, work and study in Australia indefinitely, for any employer
• Enrol in Medicare in your own right
• Sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residence
• Apply for citizenship once you meet the residence rules
• A permanent resident can study in a Commonwealth supported place at university, but usually can’t defer the student contribution through a HECS-HELP loan. Citizens can
• PRs can’t hold an Australian passport or vote in federal elections, and most ongoing federal government jobs need citizenship

Many Centrelink payments have a waiting period after you become a PR. See The partner at home.

Travelling as a permanent resident

Your permanent visa lets you stay in Australia indefinitely, but you can only leave and come back as a permanent resident within its 5-year travel facility. After that, to return as a resident you need a Resident Return visa (subclass 155). It gives a new 5-year travel facility if you’ve spent at least 2 of the last 5 years in Australia as a permanent resident or citizen. With less time here, you may get a shorter one if you have strong ties to Australia. Check your travel facility end date in VEVO before any long trip.

Becoming an Australian citizen

1. Residence: you must have lived in Australia lawfully for the 4 years right before you apply, including the last 12 months as a permanent resident. Time on a temporary visa counts towards the 4 years
2. Time abroad: no more than 12 months in total in those 4 years, and no more than 90 days in the last year
3. Test: most people aged 18 to 59 sit a 45-minute computer test of 20 questions. You need 75% overall, and all 5 questions on Australian values right. It’s based on the booklet Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond, and there’s a free practice test
4. Ceremony: if you’re approved, you become a citizen when you make the pledge at a citizenship ceremony

The general application fee is A$595 from 1 July 2026. Fees rise most years, so check the current fee when you apply. Going over the absence limits doesn’t stop you for good: it moves your eligibility date later.

Dual citizenship and children

• The UK lets you keep British citizenship when you become a citizen of another country, and Australia doesn’t make you give it up
• As a dual citizen, travel to the UK on your British passport (or with a certificate of entitlement), not just your Australian one
• A child born in Australia is an Australian citizen at birth if at least one parent is a citizen or permanent resident at the time
• A child born here who wasn’t a citizen at birth usually becomes one on their 10th birthday if they’ve lived in Australia all that time
• A child born in Australia to a British parent may also be British. Check on GOV.UK before applying for a British passport