Request for Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) recorded as a BF-111 visa

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Only use this form if you do not have an electronic visa record and need evidence of your existing permanent visa and your circumstances meet the following scenario:

• You migrated to Australia before 1987 and we issued you either of the below evidenced as a wet stamp in your passport:
  • an Authority to Return (issued between 1 March 1976 and 31 August 1979)
    
  • a Return Endorsement (issued between 1 September 1979 and 31 December 1986)

AND

• Since we issued you with an Authority to Return or a Return Endorsement, you have not spent 3 continuous years outside of Australia.

AND

• We have not granted you another substantive visa since 1994. This does not include the granting of:
  
• an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) (Subclass 956, 976, 977, or 601) visa granted on or after 1 July 2002
  
• a Border (Subclass 773) visa granted on or after 1 July 2002
• ​a Visitor (Subclass 600) visa granted under the Business Visitor stream ​in conjunction with APEC Business Card
• a ​Special Purpose visa
  

If you held an Authority to Return or a Return En​dorsement but were granted a Resident Return (subclass 155/157) visa between 1 September 1994 and 1 July 2012, this would have automatically ceased your Authority to Return or Return Endorsement and you cannot use this form.

For information - An Authority to Return or a Return Endorsement is an old form of return documentation issued to Australian permanent residents. If you held an Authority to Return or a Return Endorsement immediately before 1 September 1994, you are taken to have been granted a Transitional (Permanent) visa by operation of law on 1 September 1994.

The Authority to Return or Return Endorsement permits the holder to travel to and enter Australia within 3 years after each departure from Australia, and to remain indefinitely in Australia. For further information, see Authority to Return or Return Endorsement.

You will find more useful information to help you complete this form on Requesting an electronic record of your permanent visa – help page ​, which also contains a comprehensive list of the documents we require you to provide.

Please note: You cannot save the form to be completed later, therefore it is advisable that you have all of the documents required before you commence filling in the form. If you are unsure of any details or information that we request, the form will allow you to provide an explanation. If you do not provide the requested information, or your best estimate of the information, including supporting documents, it will take longer to process your request.

Read the instructions in this form carefully.

Questions marked with * are mandatory.​

Do not use this form if you already hold a BF-111 visa and you are simply requesting a change to your passport details. To change passport details, go to new passport details.​​​