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Your “first entry date” you found on your visa grant letter is rapidly approaching and unfortunately, COVID-19 is preventing you from travelling. What will happen to your hard-earned (not to mention expensive) visa if you miss this date?
You will note that you have two relevant dates on your visa grant letter, the “must not arrive after” date and “first entry date” (see extract of a visa grant letter below).
What is the difference between “must not arrive after” and “first entry date”?
The “must not arrive after” date is the period that your visa will be in effect for travel and entry to Australia – in other words, the visa expiry date.
For example, permanent residence visas permit travel and entry to Australia for five years from the date of grant.
In the above example, this visa will expire on August 6th, 2025 and the client will then need a new visa in order to stay in Australia.
The “first entry date” component of your visa, however, is a separate visa condition (also called the “Initial entry date” condition on some visa grants). Failure to enter Australia by the specified date breaches the visa condition, which does not cause the visa to cease but technically renders it liable to being cancelled.
Scary stuff!
If you cannot get here by the first entry date but you still want to migrate to Australia, this is what you can do….
If you hold one of the following visas:
- Skilled Independent (Subclass 189)
- Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190)
- Skilled Regional (Subclass 489)
- Skilled Work Regional (Subclass 491)
The Minister for Immigration has removed the requirement to enter Australia by the “first entry date”, which means that you can enter Australia any time during the five-year validity of the visa. Read our earlier blog article about this here.
If your visa has not yet been granted…
If you make a request before your visa has been granted, according to policy it is possible for the case officer to consider accepting a later “first entry date” than would normally apply.
Of course, there is no need to make a request, if your Visa type is one of the ones mentioned above which has had the requirement to enter Australia by the “first entry date” waived.
If your visa has been granted “and is not one of the visas listed above…
Write to the email address of the section in the Department of Home Affairs which granted your visa. Check out the email correspondence you received during the processing of your visa for the relevant email address. Obviously, if you’ve used a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer to prepare your visa application, you can get them to do this on your behalf.
If you hold a Business Skills or Distinguished Talent visa send an email to: business.skills.adelaide@homeaffairs.gov.au
If you hold a Skilled—Recognised Graduate visa (subclass 476) send an email to: sa.temporary.graduate@homeaffairs.gov.au”
Request that the first entry date is waived.
Hopefully, you will get hold of somebody nice and helpful, but you may be advised that, although your permanent residence visa is valid for five years, it is subject to the condition that you make initial entry by the specified date and the visa may be cancelled if you do not, unless you can show compelling reasons not to.
Don’t. Panic. Yet….
We think that COVID-19 travel restrictions will give you compelling reasons to convince your case officer to allow you extra time to travel to Australia. In our view, it would be unconscionable not to grant a request for an extension to the entry date on your visa grant letter.
Recent DHA policy is encouraging and states…
This consideration cannot occur until travel plans have been made. When a visa holder is able to travel to Australia, they should contact the Department of Home Affairs’ office which granted the visa and they will be assisted with additional advice at that time. Refer to the Home Affairs website for up-to-date contact details for the relevant office responsible for each country.
Policy therefore suggests that you should make your travel plans before contacting the relevant section of the Department that granted your Visa, and that you should have a good reason for not being able to travel before the expiry of the “initial entry date”.
We think that during the pandemic, and until the international and Australian borders of fully open, you will automatically have a good reason for requesting an extension of the “first entry date”. You must however, ensure that you enter Australia before the expiry date of your visa. The “Must not arrive after” date on the image above, is the actual expiry date of the visa.
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