Permanent resident Authority to Return or Return Endorsement

​​​​​​​Authority to Return or Return Endorsement

​If you migrated to Australia before 1987, and travelled outside Australia between 1 March 1976 and 31 December 1986, you may have a wet stamp in your expired passport that proves that you held either:

• 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)

An Authority to Return or a Return Endorsement is an old form of return documentation issued to Australian permanent residents.

Examples of wet stamps between 1976 and 1986

The Authority to Return and Return Endorsement wet stamps appear in your expired passport as follows:

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 (Transitional (Permanent) visa) permits the holder to travel to and enter Australia within 3 years after each departure and to remain here indefinitely. 

An Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) could still be valid if:

• it has not been cancelled
• you have returned to Australia within 3 years of each departure
• you have not become an Australian citizen
• you have not had another substantive visa granted since 1 September 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 currently hold an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa), you cannot apply for a Resident Return visa. If you were granted a Resident Return visa after 1 September 1994, this would have ceased your Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa).​

If you plan to travel​​​

In 1987, Australia began processing visas electronically. If you migrated to Australia before 1987 and have not travelled overseas since, we are unlikely to have an electronic record of your permanent visa. 

If you held an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement wet stamp in your expired passport, but you do not have an electronic record of it, it may still be valid. If you know it is still valid you can carry your expired passport, containing the stamp proving your valid Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa), along with your new passport when travelling to Australia.

We recommend, however, that you request to have your Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) recorded in the department’s systems to avoid significant delays when travelling to and from Australia. Once you have an electronic record of it, you will also be able to check the conditions of your visa using the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO).

Note: You cannot apply for an Authority to Return or Return Endorsement. If you request an electronic record of one that you hold, we will record it in our systems as a BF-111.​​

How to request a​​n ele​ctronic record of your Authority to Return or Return Endorsement​​

You can request an electronic record using Request for Authority to Return or Return Endorsement (Transitional (Permanent) visa) recorded as a BF-111 visa form​. You must also attach copies of the following documents to the form​:

• Authority to Return or Return Endorsement wet stamp
• Evidence of any name changes
• Biodata pages of both your current and expired passports.

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.

This does not alter the conditions of your visa in any way. There is no charge for this service.​