blue121

That reminds me, I'd best go do the washing up

Thanks very much for your help Paul, if all of this does ever come to fruition then my first step will be getting a consultation from you!

I guess like a lot of visa queries, it's a bit of a grey area and is purely at the discretion of the Australian government / your CO. As you say, the RRV is "intended to be just long enough for you to return and get settled again" and so they may have grounds to refuse repeat RRVs based on this. However, I would argue that my reason for continuously applying for them is so that I can one day settle in Australia with my Australian wife - I'm not exactly trying to game the system (at least not for the wrong reasons ).

I really do miss the long UK summer nights! I've been in Aus almost 3 years now but only as a temporary resident - applied for a partner visa about a year ago as it was the only way for me to stay in the country whilst my wife completed her studies here (moving to the UK was out of the question until she graduated). I've got 1 year left before I can apply for the permanent partner visa (820 > 801) and then another 6-12 months for that to process. I would then need to wait until I've been on that PR 801 for 1 year before applying for my citizenship and then a further ~18 months from application to citizen ceremony. All together that means the earliest I could move back to the UK would be mid-2025 to early 2026 - seems a lifetime away! With the plan layed out in my original post, I would actually be able to leave after only 1 year as soon as I apply for the permanent partner visa (820 > 801) as that can actually be granted whilst I'm out the country (as long as my wife is still living with me wherever we may be of course), so it's quite a lot extra to wait for citizenship! Alternatively, I could try my luck at applying for Aus citizenship whilst I'm back in the UK by virtue of ministerial discretion relating to my Aus spouse as an exemption to the general residence requirement but it seems a bit of a long shot. Or as Marisawright mentions, I could just reapply for another partner visa if ever needed (if that's even possible) although I wouldn't be super keen go through the effort and steep financial outlay of that for a second time.

Thanks for your help, do you have any knowledge of how straight forward this process is likely to be? Would it be just the same as if I were applying for my first ever partner visa or am I likely to run into additional hurdles?

How long would I have to stay for in order to reset the date? or does it never reset?

Hi, I am currently applying for a 801 permanent partner visa with my Aus citizen wife. After it grants, we want to move back to my home country (UK) for the foreseeable future and then potentially move back to Aus one day. In order to make this feasible, I need to maintain my Aus PR as we will be moving back to the UK before I am eligible for citizenship. I was just wondering if anyone knows of any potential issues with the following plan: Although I would meet the criteria outlined in red in the image below, the blue criteria also applies to me (I'll have had PR less than 10 years) and so I imagine this supercedes the red? I really think this could be a lot better explained on the website as it really isn't clear. Anyway, I simply plan on returning to Aus at least once every 5 years, initially on my 801, and then on multiple RRVs (each one for 12 months from my understandign) in the future once my initial 5 year travel facility on the 801 has expired. From my reading of the criteria below, everytime I re-visit Aus on an RRV, I am entering as a PR and so must also be leaving as a PR. Therefore, these visits will surely "reset"' the date that I "left Australia as a permanent resident"? Or does this date actually refer to the very first time that I left Australia as a PR? Surely, if the date does reset/update each time then there is no difference between the red and blue criteria as 'not absent for periods that equate to 5 years' (blue critieria) would be identical to 'not absent for 5 continuous years' (red criteria)? I should have no trouble demonstrating substantial ties as my wife is a citizen and has family here. If/when the time comes to fully move back to Aus, I would just get another RRV and then remain here until I'm eligible for citizenship. If I needed to travel abroad during that time, I could apply for an RRV on the criteria outlined in green. Many thanks in advance for any help/guidance!