After 5 Years on a 116 Carer Visa in 2026: Resident Return Visa or Citizenship?

What a 116 Carer visa holder needs after five years: check your travel facility in VEVO, then choose between a Resident Return visa and citizenship.

Published: 10 July 2026 Reading time 12 min

If your Carer visa (Subclass 116) was granted five or more years ago and you are preparing to go back to your home country, the short answer is this: your permanent status is not what runs out — your travel facility is. Once it ends, you need to either apply for and be granted a Resident Return (RRV) visa (subclass 155 or subclass 157) to come back as a permanent resident, or become an Australian citizen and travel on an Australian passport. That is the position set out on the Australian Department of Home Affairs' Carer visa (Subclass 116) official page.

What follows is general information about how the two paths differ and when each one makes sense. It is not personalised advice about your circumstances, and anything that depends on your own history should be checked against the current requirements published by the Department of Home Affairs.

What actually ends after five years on a 116 visa?

The 116 is a permanent visa. It lets you stay in Australia indefinitely, work and study, enrol in Medicare, and sponsor eligible relatives. Under the Department's page, you become a permanent resident on the day the visa is granted.

The five-year limit attaches to something narrower: travel. You can travel to and from Australia as many times as you like for five years from the date the visa was granted, as long as the travel facility on the visa remains valid. After that, the Department states plainly that you need a Resident Return visa (subclass 155 or subclass 157) to re-enter Australia as a permanent resident.

So the practical risk for a long-term carer who goes home for an extended period is not losing permanent residency itself. It is being outside Australia when the travel facility has expired and then having no visa that lets you board a flight back as a permanent resident.

How do you find the exact date your travel facility ends?

Don't count five years from your approval email and hope. Use VEVO (Visa Entitlement Verification Online). The Department directs visa holders to VEVO specifically to see when the travel facility ends, and to check visa expiry, conditions and work and study entitlements.

VEVO is also the tool to use before any trip, because it shows whether the visa is still valid at that moment. This matters for a second reason: the 116 grant letter specifies a first entry arrival date, generally set at 12 months from the date of grant. The Department's guidance says that if you did not travel to Australia before that date, you can still travel on an expired first entry arrival date if the visa is still valid, though the visa may remain subject to cancellation before arrival or at the border.

Two checks worth doing before you book anything:

Confirm the travel facility end date in VEVO, not from memory or from an old grant letter.
Confirm the visa is still shown as valid in VEVO, and re-check close to your departure date.

When is a Resident Return visa the right move?

An RRV is the answer when you want to keep your life in Australia on the basis of permanent residency — you intend to come back, but you are not ready for, or not interested in, citizenship. The Department frames it as the mechanism that lets you "re-enter Australia as a permanent resident" after the initial five-year travel facility.

An RRV suits a holder whose travel is occasional and whose ties to Australia are settled: you return for periods, you may still have caring responsibilities or family here, and you are content to travel on your existing passport with a visa linked to it. The trade-off is that it is a step you have to repeat. Each time your travel facility runs out, the question comes back.

Eligibility for subclasses 155 and 157, and what evidence the Department expects, are set out on the Department's Resident Return visa page; check the requirements currently published there.

When does citizenship make the question go away?

Citizenship is the structural fix rather than the repeat fix. The Department's position is direct: if you become an Australian citizen, you do not require a visa to enter Australia. The condition attached to that is documentation — you need to apply for an Australian passport and use it to leave and re-enter Australia.

For someone who has lived in Australia for years as a carer and still expects to travel back and forth regularly, that removes the renewal cycle entirely. It also changes the travel document you use at the border, which is worth planning around: passports take time to obtain, so the sequencing matters if a trip is already booked.

One detail on timing that the Department's page is explicit about: for citizenship purposes, your permanent residence starts on the day you enter Australia on the visa, not on the day it was granted. Eligibility requirements and current processing times are published on the Department's citizenship pages and change over time, so check what is currently listed.

How do the two options compare?

	Resident Return visa (155 or 157)	Australian citizenship
What it does	Lets you re-enter Australia as a permanent resident after the initial travel facility ends	Removes the need for any visa to enter Australia
Travel document	Your existing passport, with the visa linked to it	An Australian passport, used to leave and re-enter
How long it lasts	A further travel facility; the question returns when it ends	No travel facility to renew
Main cost to you	Another application each time you need it	The citizenship application, then a passport application
Best suited to	Occasional return travel, no plans to naturalise	Regular travel, long-term ties, ready to meet eligibility

Neither option is "better" in the abstract. The decision turns on a single question: how often do you expect to come back, and do you want to keep solving this every few years?

What stays the same either way

Your permanent residency does not convert into something lesser because you have been away. On the Department's page, the 116 remains a permanent visa, and the five-year rule governs travel rather than status. What changes is the paperwork you need at the border.

Two things that catch people out are worth keeping in view.

New Zealand passport holders. If an immigration officer processes your clearance at the border, the Department recommends telling them that you hold a Carer visa (subclass 116) and that you do not want a Special Category visa (subclass 444). If you don't, you may be granted a subclass 444, and the Department notes that grant of a subclass 444 might affect your eligibility for Australian citizenship.

Visa evidence at the border. The 116 is digitally linked to your passport and no label is issued, so VEVO is also how you demonstrate to airline staff and border officers that you hold a valid visa and what its conditions are.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I lose my permanent residency when the five-year travel period ends?

No. What ends is the travel facility attached to the visa, not your status as a permanent resident. The Department's guidance is that after the initial five-year travel facility you need a Resident Return visa to re-enter Australia as a permanent resident.

Can I still use my 116 visa to come back after five years?

Not on its own. You must apply for and be granted a Resident Return visa (subclass 155 or subclass 157) to re-enter as a permanent resident, or travel as an Australian citizen on an Australian passport.

How do I check the exact end date?

Use VEVO. The Department directs 116 holders to VEVO to see when the travel facility ends, and to check visa expiry, conditions and entitlements before travelling.

Is a Resident Return visa the same as extending my 116 visa?

No. It is a separate visa — subclass 155 or subclass 157 — that restores your ability to travel to Australia as a permanent resident. Your 116 remains the visa that confers permanent residency.

If I become an Australian citizen, do I still need an RRV?

No. The Department states that an Australian citizen does not require a visa to enter Australia. You do need an Australian passport, which you use to leave and re-enter the country.

When does my permanent residency start for citizenship purposes?

On the day you entered Australia on the 116 visa, per the Department's page. This differs from the day the visa was granted, which is when you became a permanent resident for visa purposes.

I hold a New Zealand passport. Does anything change at the border?

Yes. Tell the immigration officer that you hold a Carer visa (subclass 116) and that you do not want a Special Category visa (subclass 444). Being granted a subclass 444 might affect your eligibility for Australian citizenship.