The Federal Government has now unveiled the details of a new plan, announcing it will introduce two new permanent residence visa streams for Hong Kong and British National Overseas passport holders already in Australia.
Both would be eligible for the permanent residency pathways.
The two new streams will provide a substantially easier path to permanent residency.
The subclass 191 – Hong Kong (regional) stream would focus on those who have lived, worked or studied in regional areas, could apply after three years. While the subclass 189 Hong Kong stream is open to other applicants, eligible after four years of local residency. The visas would allow for dependents to be included.
They also won’t have to meet minimum income requirements or hold one of the jobs on Australia’s current skills shortages list.
The government estimates that just under 9,000 Hong Kong passport holders in Australia — including temporary skilled, temporary graduate and student visa holders — will be eligible to apply from March 5, 2022.