1.1.7 Resident return visas, Australian declaratory visas and certificates of evidence of resident status
Objectives
- Facilitate the re-entry of Australian permanent residents while ensuring that only those people with a genuine commitment to residing in Australia, or who are contributing to Australia's wellbeing, retain the right to return and remain permanently in Australia.
- Provide documentation to enable the entry into Australia of Australian citizen dual nationals who have compelling reasons preventing them from travelling on an Australian passport.
- On request, provide clients with written evidence of their status in Australia as permanent residents.
Description
Under this output component, the department develops and administers appropriate visa arrangements and other documentation to facilitate the re-entry of Australian permanent residents in line with the above objectives. It also provides Certificates of Evidence of Resident Status (CERS) to Australian permanent residents who require evidence of their status.
Performance
During 2006-07, a total of 66 290 Resident Return visa applications were lodged. Of these, 60 482 were lodged in person, resulting in 57 392 grants and 817 refusals. Of the 5808 applications lodged through the Internet, 5670 were granted.
The number of online applications in 2006-07 was 11.61 per cent down on the previous year.
In 2006-07, there were 1259 applications lodged for Australian declaratory visas, up 21.88 per cent on 2005-06. A total of 1189 were issued.
During 2006-07, 16 632 applications were lodged for CERs, down 6.9 percent on 2005-06. A total of 16 486 certificates were issued.