[Jonesey79]

Hi I'm new to the forum and was wondering?????

I've been married to my wife (who is Australian/ British dual citizen) for 13 years. I moved to Australia about 10 years ago and applied and granted a Permanent Residency visa. However I was young and got home sick after 2 1/2 years so came home back to the UK where we have lived for the last 7-8 years.

We now have a 21 month old son and are in the process of applying for Australian citizenship for him.

Our priorities have now changed and want to provide our son with what we believe to be a better lifestyle/opportunity and move back to Oz.

My question is, it is straight forward for my wife and child to move to Oz but as I have been out of Australia for more than 5 years my Permanent Residency visa has closed. Is it possible for me to return? If so how do I go about it?

Thanks in advance

Any info would be greatly appreciated as I'm a little snookered at the minute.

 

[nonny1983]

Hi, I'm also married to an aussie/ brit dual citizen and applying for citizen by descent for your son is straight forward form filling and sending your wifes citizenship cert or aussie passport in as proof. To get him his passport is a pain tho, we couldn't send the forms in via post for our children we had to travel to Australia house in London ( on appointment) just to drop them off. Didn't have to take the kids so the point I don't know lol.
Re your status I'm not 100% sure but I think as you have had permanant residence you should be able to get a return resident visa which is a cheap and easy process. Good luck

 

[Jonesey79]

Hi nonny, thanks for your quick response. We have just looked into the process involved in getting our son his Australian passport and as you mention the apply in person bit doesn't make sense. I will look into applying for a return residence visa fingers crossed hopefully it will be a formality and we can continue with our plans to get back to Oz. just have to decide where in Oz we will move to. My wife is from Brisbane but Perth also appeals to us,

Thanks for your help once again nonny it has put my mind at ease a little as I was a little worried it wouldn't be possible for me to return.

 

[nonny1983]

No problem, don't worry that they won't let you back, worst case senario is you may have to apply for a spouse visa again but I'm sure as you have previously had residence you should get the return resident visa pretty easily.
The whole passport thing is a joke, we had to make the train journey to and from London from Cardiff for a 20 min appointment. If we had had to take the children for Id purposes I could understand but no was just us, so id suggest booking a hotel and making a trip of it, really regret that we didnt do this!!
We've come to the gold coast, like your wife my hubby is from Brisbane and we thought it best to come somewhere familiar and where he already had some roots. I have to say its beautiful and I can't fault it here, the weather, the landscape, the people and the proximity to both the coast and the city. If your not sure where to come is highly suggest it

 

[Guest]

You are more likely than others to be granted a return residents having an australian wife & child & assuming prob other family in australia.

But do look on the citizenship pages. There is a ministerial direction that can be used to count time spent outside of australia with an australian citizen spouse, whilst on a PR visa, as time spent in australia. Which could get you citizenship now.

Look on the DIAC citizneship site. I'll post the link & law later as on my phone atm.

 

[Jonesey79]

Thanks again nonny, we will look at making a trip of it as we will be travelling down from Liverpool. We will check the Gold Coast out also as we will be originally going back to Sandgate and using that as a base to find the place we want to settle. We also thought about the Sunshine Coast as a possibility but as with any place it will depend on the work situation.

 

[Jonesey79]

Thanks Shel, I hadn't considered the Citizenship route as I thought i had to be a Permanent Resident before I could think about becoming a Citizen. I have been married to my wife for 13 years (2 1/2 years in Oz and the rest of the time in the time in the UK) so hopefully as you mentioned this can go in my favour.

 

[Guest]

I think you may need to get a PR (RRV) visa in hand before you can apply. But the new RRV would only be valid for 1 yr if you have not been living in Australia for 2 out of the last 5 yrs. Five Year Resident Return Visa (Subclass 155) You might even just get the 3 month one!

You could then apply using this direction
Australian Citizenship – Variation to the residence requirement

 

[Jonesey79]

Thanks again Shel I will have a good look through these links.