Many people across the globe are seriously considering leaving their homes every year and moving to another country, for various different reasons. Whether it’s the global economy fluctuating and leading to the lack of job opportunities in their homeland, or some other cause – people are more or less constantly engaged in finding the better living conditions for themselves and their family members.

That’s why it’s very important to help those who want to make this transition and provide them with information on how they can make a permanent residency application. With Australia being one of the most sought-out destinations for migrating to in the world, we’re going to focus on the things an individual needs to know in order to find out whether they meet the qualifications for permanent residency in this particular country.

What are the Benefits of Permanent Residency in Australia?

Before we delve deeper into the process of how to apply for permanent residency in Australia, let’s focus on some of the benefits of obtaining this document. 

First of all, you’re allowed to live and work in Australia indefinitely. This also means that you can enter or leave the country frequently (within that initial period of five years). After that period of permanent residency has passed, you may apply for Australian citizenship.

As a permanent resident, you get many different rights and privileges, just like a regular Australian citizen. You get access to free or subsidized legal and health services, you can sponsor your relatives to Australia, you can apply for consular assistance overseas, you get a right to travel to New Zealand (after the New Zealand government has approved this first), and your children automatically receive Australian citizenship if they’re born in Australia.

Requirements for Permanent Residency in Australia

Australia has a point-based immigration system, which means that you have to go through different stages, both online and offline. The points-based immigration system means that you have to collect a certain amount of points to qualify for permanent residency. You get these points for your education, English language proficiency test result, skill assessment report by a relevant authority, etc. Long story short – they need to assess whether you’re a valid candidate for permanent residency application. 

All of the aforementioned things are actually some of the key documents that you’ll need to apply for permanent residency in Australia.

Find Out What’s the Appropriate Visa Category for You Personally

After you’ve collected and arranged key documents like your travel and educational documents, you need to find out what is the appropriate visa for you personally. There are several Permanent Residency Visa categories. One of the most common is Subclass 189, which is a Non-sponsored Visa. Then there’s a Subclass 190, which is a State Nominated Visa, and there’s also a Subclass 186, which is an Employer Nominated Visa. There are many more visa categories, but these three are probably the most common ones.

If you have any difficulties finding out which category is best suitable for you personally, we would recommend contacting professionals like those behind Best Immigration Lawyers in Sydney. That way you’ll make sure you’ve applied for the right visa category, thus further increasing your chances of being selected and eventually making it to Australia.

Skilled Occupation List

The next step for you, after you’ve chosen the appropriate visa category for you, would be to select an occupation from the Skilled Occupation List. This is also something that many people get stuck at, so we’d recommend consulting professionals on this matters as well, in case you’re not absolutely certain about which occupation you should select from this list.

For instance, in case you’re applying for a Subclass 189 visa, which is a Non-sponsored visa, then you need to make this choice from the skilled occupation list of Australia. But in case you’re applying for a Subclass 190 visa, for example, then you should choose a combined list of eligible skilled occupation which is active for that specific state inside Australia. We’d advise you to be extra careful when following these steps because you can ’drop’ many points throughout the process if you don’t choose the appropriate visa category or select the wrong occupation from the Skilled Occupation List.

Point-Based System

As we’ve mentioned earlier, Australia has a point-based immigration system, which means that you need to submit Expression of Interest. This is done online, and you need to get into the SkillSelect System of Australia where you’ll need to state your key profile details such as age, education, work experience, language proficiency, and so on.

After you’ve done this, the system will calculate your points. If you are in the range of at least 65 points (or above), you can apply through the system. The higher point score is better, of course, and would improve your chances of getting an invitation to apply for the visa.

Health and Character

The last two things on the list are the health and character requirements. This means that you need to meet certain criteria like being medically fit and being ’morally good in character’. There’s a medical exam you need to pass to get this certification, and there’s also something called ’character verification process’, where they determine if you’re a suitable candidate for visa application process altogether.

The Bottom Line

More and more people throughout the world are thinking about relocating to another country or moving to a different continent, for various reasons. With Australia being one of the top destinations in the world in this regard, you need to make sure that you’ve followed all the right steps and met all the criteria needed to make a permanent residency application.

These steps include, first of all, finding out whether you meet the requirements for permanent residency in Australia. After this, you can get to choosing the appropriate visa category for you, selecting an occupation from the Skilled Occupation List, applying in the point-based system, and finding out if you meet health and character requirements. In case you stumble upon any difficulties during this process, we highly recommend you to contact the professionals and get help on these matters.