Subclass 189 Hong Kong stream: Find your application window before a five-year visa expires
For a visa granted on or after 9 July 2020, check whether the grant has the required five-year validity from the date it came into effect. You must still hold that eligible visa when you apply for the subclass 189 Hong Kong stream and have held it for at least four years. The continuous four years of usual residence immediately before application is a separate requirement.
Check the grant date, commencement and expiry
Use the grant notice and current visa records. Record the subclass, basis of grant, grant date, commencement and expiry. An eligible subclass 457, 482 or 485 must have been granted on the basis that you met its primary criteria. For grants on or after 9 July 2020, the regulations require permission to travel to, enter and remain in Australia for the five-year period starting when the visa came into effect.
If you updated your passport, changed employer or applied for another visa, check whether the department issued a separate grant notice. Use the actual visa records. Time on different grants cannot be added together, even if they carry the same subclass number.
Find the dates on which both requirements can be met
Record the date you will have held the qualifying visa for four years and its expiry date. Then work back from the proposed application date and check the four years of usual residence. Someone who established their usual home in Australia several months after the visa commenced may meet the residence requirement later than the visa holding requirement.
Before relying on a narrow application window, verify that the qualifying visa will still be held and that the evidence supports both requirements. Saving a form, preparing payment or uploading documents does not establish that you have lodged the application.
Treat earlier grants as historical records
The regulations contain a separate provision for grants before 9 July 2020. Under that provision the visa could not permit the holder to travel to, enter or remain in Australia after 8 July 2025. Keep historical notices where relevant, and use your current grant to assess a new application.
For a file review with 卓越移民 Premiervisa Group, prepare the dates from your grant notices, your current visa details and your intended lodgement date. Identify any difference between the dates shown on your records.
Official sources checked on 6 November 2026.
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