The Hong Kong streams of the 189 and 191: permanent residence for HKSAR and BNO passport holders after four years in Australia, or three in a regional area, with no points test

MARN 1576536

The July 2020 concessions and the five-year visas

On 9 July 2020 the Australian Government announced visa arrangements for Hong Kong SAR passport holders, extended later that year to British National (Overseas) passport holders. Holders of a 457, 482 or 485 visa in Australia on that date had their visas extended by five years from that date; new applicants for a 482 or a 485 holding those passports were granted visas of five years rather than the usual length; and the Government undertook that a pathway to permanent residence would be available at the end of the five years. The concessions were a response to events in Hong Kong and were framed for people already in Australia on skilled and graduate visas and those who would follow them, which is why the permanent streams built on them count time on those visas rather than time in Australia on any visa. The five-year 482 for Hong Kong passport holders is still the rule, which is why a Hong Kong applicant's 482 grant notice shows a longer period than a colleague's, and the five years were set so that the residence requirement of the permanent streams could be met within them.

The two streams, opened March 2022

The promised pathway opened on 5 March 2022 as two streams of existing permanent visas: the Hong Kong stream of the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa, and the Hong Kong (Regional) stream of the subclass 191 Permanent Residence (Skilled Regional) visa. Each is a stream of a visa that otherwise works very differently: the main 189 is a points-tested visa reached through an expression of interest and an invitation, and the main 191 is for 491 and 494 holders after three years with an income threshold. The Hong Kong streams borrow the subclass and the permanent status but not the mechanism: there is no expression of interest, no invitation, no points, no occupation list and no skills assessment, and the 191 stream has no income threshold. The applicant who meets the residence requirement and the passport and visa conditions applies directly, and the application is assessed on those requirements, on health and character, and on the other criteria the instrument sets. The streams are open as at the date above; they were created by regulation and instrument and could be closed or amended by the same means, which is one reason the years are not left to run longer than they must.

Who is covered, and who is not

The streams cover a person who holds a Hong Kong SAR passport or a British National (Overseas) passport and who holds, or has held, an eligible visa as the instrument defines it, which centres on the 482, the 485 and the former 457 within the concession arrangements. The passport is the gateway: a person born in Hong Kong who holds only a Chinese passport or another passport is not in the streams, and a person who holds a BNO passport, including one obtained after the concessions were announced, is, so that a Hong Kong resident with the right to a BNO passport who has not obtained one reads that first. The visa is the second gateway: time in Australia on a Student visa, a visitor visa, a working holiday visa or a bridging visa does not count toward the residence requirement, and a Hong Kong passport holder who has been in Australia for six years on a student visa and then a 485 counts from the 485. A partner or child included on the eligible visa is included on the permanent application as a family member rather than as a primary applicant in their own right, which the family section covers. A person whose eligible visa has ended and who now holds a different visa reads whether the period on the eligible visa still satisfies the stream; the instrument's terms govern and the consultation reads them against the history.

The 189 Hong Kong stream: four years of usual residence

The 189 Hong Kong stream requires that the applicant has been usually resident in Australia for a continuous period of at least four years immediately before the application, holding an eligible visa through that period, anywhere in Australia. Usual residence is a concept the Department and the Tribunal read on the facts: where the person lived, worked and kept their life, with absences that are consistent with Australia being their home rather than one of their homes. The four years are counted back from the date of application, so an applicant whose 482 was granted on a particular date applies on or after the fourth anniversary, having checked the travel record for the absences the next section describes; an applicant who held a 457 or 482 before the concession date and whose visa was extended counts the four years across the original and the extended period, as the instrument allows. There is no occupation requirement, no requirement that the applicant still be employed, and no requirement to remain with the sponsoring employer, although a 482 holder who leaves the sponsor's employment has the ordinary 180-day rule on their 482 to manage so that the eligible visa does not end before the four years do.

The 191 Hong Kong regional stream: three years in a regional area

The 191 Hong Kong (Regional) stream requires that for a continuous period of at least three years immediately before the application the applicant lived, worked and studied only in a designated regional area, holding an eligible visa through the period. Designated regional area for this purpose is everywhere in Australia other than Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as the Department's postcode instrument defines them, so Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Canberra, Hobart, Darwin, Newcastle, Wollongong, Geelong and the whole of regional Australia qualify; the regional lookup reads a postcode against the instrument. The main 191 stream, for 491 and 494 holders, requires three years and a taxable income at or above a threshold in each of three income years; the Hong Kong stream requires the three years and no income threshold, which is a material difference for a graduate on a 485 in a regional city or a 482 holder whose salary sits below the figure. The requirement is lived, worked and studied only in regional areas: an applicant who lived in Adelaide but commuted to work in a non-regional area, or who did a six-month contract in Sydney, has broken the only, and the Department reads employment records and addresses against the postcodes. An applicant who reaches three regional years applies a year before a capital-city colleague reaches four.

Absences, and time in the wrong place

Both streams count a continuous period immediately before the application, and both are read with the travel record the Department holds. Time outside Australia on holiday, visiting family in Hong Kong, or on short business trips is consistent with usual residence and with living in a regional area, and the Department reads the pattern rather than counting days to a published limit; an absence of a year, a period of working abroad, or a pattern of leaving for months at a time is read as a break in residence, and the period restarts or the application is refused. For the 191 stream, time spent living or working in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane is time in the wrong place, and a move from a capital to a regional area starts the three years from the move, with the address history and the employer's location evidencing it. An applicant whose record has a long absence, a capital-city period or a gap between eligible visas, for example a 485 that ended before the 482 was granted with a bridging visa in between, reads with advice whether the period is continuous as the instrument requires, because the application is made once the years are met and a refusal on the arithmetic is avoidable.

What is not required, and what still is

The streams do not require the points test, an invitation, an occupation on any list, a skills assessment, a nomination by an employer or a state, or a current job, and the 191 stream does not require the income threshold. They do require everything a permanent visa requires of its applicants: the health requirement for the applicant and each family member, including those not migrating, the character requirement with police certificates from each country lived in for twelve months or more since turning 16, which for these applicants includes Hong Kong and often the United Kingdom, Form 80 where requested, the public interest and special return criteria, the visa application charge for the primary applicant and each family member, and the second instalment for a family member without functional English where it applies. The English requirement for the streams is read in the instrument at lodgement rather than assumed from the points test, and the consultation checks the current position. A permanent visa granted under either stream is the same permanent visa as any other 189 or 191, with the same travel facility, the same path to citizenship after the residence requirement, and no condition tying the holder to a region after grant, although a 191 holder who moves to a capital the week after grant should expect the Department to have read the regional years for genuineness before the grant.

Family members under the relaxed definition

Members of the applicant's family unit are included in the application, and for these streams the Department applied a relaxed definition of member of the family unit, so that a family member who was included on the applicant's eligible temporary visa can be included on the permanent application even where they would otherwise have aged out of dependence, which matters for an adult child who came on the parent's 482 as a teenager and is now in their twenties. Each family member meets health and character and pays the charge, a partner is included on the ordinary evidence of the relationship, and a child born in Australia to the applicant during the period is included at birth on the parent's visa and then on the application. A family member who was not on the eligible visa, a partner met in Australia or a child from an earlier relationship who stayed abroad, is included on the ordinary definition where they meet it, and a partner who holds no visa and cannot be included is sponsored for a partner visa after the grant. The family section of the application is where errors are made under time pressure, and the family is read with the applicant before the years are up.

The evidence

The application evidences the passport, the eligible visa history from the grant notices and VEVO, and the residence period: for the 189 stream, addresses, leases or property, employment and payslips, tax returns, bank and utility records, and the travel record, which shows usual residence over four years; for the 191 stream the same records with the postcode of each address and each place of work and study for three years, so that the Department can read the only. Health examinations are completed on request and police certificates obtained in advance, because a Hong Kong certificate of no criminal conviction is obtained through a process that takes time and is issued for a specific purpose, and the applicant who orders it before lodgement avoids a delay in the queue. Family relationship documents, the children's birth certificates and the partner's evidence complete the set, and an applicant who has changed name, passport or address during the period explains it so the records reconcile.

The order to run it in

A Hong Kong or BNO passport holder on a 482 or 485 runs the years, not the application: the first decision is where to live, because three regional years reach permanent residence a year before four years anywhere, and a graduate choosing a first job or a 482 holder with a regional offer weighs that; the second is to keep the eligible visa on foot for the whole period, which for a 482 holder means managing the 180-day rule on a change of employer and for a 485 holder means noting the five-year end date and the fact that no second eligible visa may follow; the third is to keep the travel record consistent with residence, which means no long absence in the final years; the fourth is to order the police certificates and read the family section in the months before the anniversary; and the fifth is to lodge on the date the period is met, because the streams are a creature of regulation and the applicant who qualifies lodges while they exist. A 482 holder with an employer willing to nominate for the 186 compares the two, since the 186 can be reached in two years and does not depend on the passport, and the 482 to 186 guide sets out that route; the Hong Kong stream is the route that needs no employer, which for many is the point.

The Hong Kong stream checklist

1. Confirm the passport: Hong Kong SAR or British National (Overseas), held at the time of application.
2. Confirm the eligible visa: a 482, 485 or 457 within the concession arrangements, and the date the period on it began.
3. Choose the stream: four years usually resident anywhere for the 189, or three years living, working and studying only in a designated regional area for the 191, with no income threshold.
4. Keep the eligible visa on foot for the whole period; manage the 180-day rule on any change of 482 employer.
5. Keep the travel record consistent with residence; avoid long absences and, for the 191, any capital-city period.
6. Order the Hong Kong and other police certificates and complete the family section in the months before the anniversary.
7. Lodge on the day the period is met, with health, character and the charge ready; compare the 186 if an employer will nominate.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. The Hong Kong stream of subclass 189 and the Hong Kong (Regional) stream of subclass 191 in Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994 as inserted in 2022, the legislative instruments defining eligible visas, passports and designated regional areas, the July 2020 visa arrangements for Hong Kong SAR and British National (Overseas) passport holders as implemented, and the Department’s published policy, all as in force at the date above; the streams and their instruments can be amended and the terms at lodgement govern. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.