Investor Retirement visa closing to new applicants on 1 June 2018, existing visa holders may continue to apply

In light of the Federal Budget announcement of a pathway to a permanent visa for Subclass 405 - Investor Retirement and the repealed Subclass 410 – Retirement visa, a very short legislative instrument became law yesterday closing any new applications for the 405 visa from 1 June 2018.

The one exception to this is that new applications will remain open for existing 405 visa holders on and after 1 June 2018. When it will finally close to this cohort is unknown.

As sponsorship by an appropriate regional authority is required at the time of applying, it would be next to impossible for any prospective applicants who are not existing 405 visa holder to validly lodge an application in time.

It also means that if any 405 visa holders miss lodging a new application before their existing 405 visa expires by even one day they will miss out on the chance for a permanent visa forever! Time is of the essence.