# Australia Citizenship — Time Away in the Last Year

Residency rule, Australia. Page: https://usecountr.com/trackers/residency-au-citizenship-final-year/

## Summary

In the 12 months immediately before the day you apply for Australian citizenship, you must not have been outside Australia for more than 90 days in total. You must also have been a permanent resident for that whole year, including during each trip. This is the final-year part of the general residence requirement. If you were away for 91 days or more, you must wait until enough of those days are more than 12 months old before you apply. The Department of Home Affairs checks your travel records.

- Limit: 90 days outside Australia in total
- Period: The 12 months immediately before the day you apply
- Visa status: Permanent resident for the whole 12 months, including while away
- Sister limit: No more than 12 months away in the 4 years before you apply
- Law: Australian Citizenship Act 2007, section 22(1)(c) and (1B)
- Run by: Department of Home Affairs

## Who it applies to

- Permanent residents who are close to the day on which they can apply for citizenship.
- People who plan a long visit to family abroad in the year before they apply.
- People whose work sends them abroad for several weeks at a time.
- People who became permanent residents less than a year ago and want to know when the 12 months are complete.
- New Zealand citizens on a special category visa who apply for citizenship.

## The rule

The general residence requirement in section 22 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 has a long part and a short part. The long part looks at the 4 years before you apply and is followed by the tracker Australia Citizenship - Time Away in 4 Years. The short part looks only at the last 12 months, and it is stricter.

Under section 22(1)(c) you must have been present in Australia as a permanent resident for the 12 months immediately before the day you apply. Section 22(1B) then allows some absence: you are still treated as present for that year if your absences in the year are not more than 90 days in total and you were a permanent resident during each absence.

This means two things must be true for the last year. First, you held permanent residence for all of it. A person whose permanent visa was granted 10 months ago cannot apply yet, however little they travelled. Second, your trips abroad in that year add up to 90 days or fewer. Since 1 July 2023, New Zealand citizens who hold a special category (subclass 444) visa are treated as permanent residents for this purpose.

The 90 days are part of the 12 months allowed in the 4-year period, not extra days. Home Affairs describes the rule as no more than 12 months away in the past 4 years, including no more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying.

Why it exists: The final year shows where your life is now. A person may have travelled a lot in earlier years, but the state wants to see that, at the time of applying, the person is settled in Australia as a permanent resident and is likely to stay.

## Counting the days

You count the days you were outside Australia in the 12 months that end on the day before you apply. The total must be 90 days or fewer.

1. Choose the day you plan to apply and count back 12 months. For an application on 1 October 2026, the period starts on 1 October 2025.
2. Check that your permanent visa was granted on or before the first day of that period.
3. List every trip abroad that falls inside the period, in full or in part. For a trip that started earlier, count only the days inside the period.
4. Add the days. With 90 or fewer you meet the final-year limit.
5. If you have 91 or more, find the day on which enough old trip days will be more than 12 months in the past, and apply on or after that day.
6. Then check the 4-year limit of 12 months in total.

How Countr counts it: Countr counts the days you spent outside Australia in the 12 months that end today, as if you applied today, and compares them with 90. It warns you 15 days before the limit. The app cannot see your visa, so it cannot check that you were a permanent resident for the whole year. It counts only the days away that it can see. If your photos have large gaps, your real time away can be higher than the number shown.

## Examples

### Two trips, 75 days

Farah wants to apply on 1 October 2026. In the 12 months from 1 October 2025 she made two trips: 45 days in Pakistan in December 2025 and January 2026, and 30 days in Europe in July 2026. Her total is 75 days. She has held her permanent visa since 2024. She is under 90 days and was a permanent resident for the whole year, so she meets the final-year limit.

### One long trip of 100 days

Marco was abroad from 1 February 2026 to 11 May 2026, a trip of 100 days. If he applies on 1 October 2026, all 100 days are inside the last 12 months, so he is over the limit by 10 days. He does not need to wait a full year. Once the first 10 days of the trip are more than 12 months in the past, in the middle of February 2027, only 90 days remain inside the period and he can apply, if he has not travelled again.

### A permanent visa granted 10 months ago

Linh has lived in Australia for 5 years on work visas and did not leave the country at all in the last year. Her permanent visa was granted on 1 December 2025. On 1 October 2026 she has been a permanent resident for 10 months only. She has zero days away, but she still does not meet the final-year part, because the whole 12 months must be as a permanent resident. Her first possible day to apply is 1 December 2026.

## Exceptions

- Children under 16 do not need to meet the general residence requirement, but they must be permanent residents.
- The Minister can count time abroad as time in Australia for the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, if the person was a permanent resident and kept a close and continuing association with Australia.
- A special residence requirement exists for two groups: people who seek to do certain activities that benefit Australia need 180 days in Australia in the last 2 years, including 90 days in the last 12 months, and people in certain kinds of work that require regular travel abroad need 480 days in the last 4 years, including 120 days in the last 12 months.
- Some New Zealand citizens who hold a New Zealand stream Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa do not need to have held it for 12 months before they apply.
- Members of the Australian Defence Force and their families can be exempt after 90 days of service in the permanent forces.

## Common misconceptions

- "I get 90 days per trip." The 90 days are the total for all trips in the last 12 months. Three trips of 35 days each make 105 days, which is over the limit.
- "The 90 days are on top of the 12 months allowed in 4 years." They are inside it. The 4-year period allows 12 months away in total, and no more than 90 of those days may fall in the last year.
- "If I go over 90 days, I have to start again from zero." Nothing starts again. The 12-month period moves forward every day. You wait until enough of the trip days are older than 12 months and then apply.
- "The last year means the last calendar year." It is the 12 months immediately before the day you apply. For an application on 1 October 2026, it runs from 1 October 2025.

## Questions and answers

### What happens if I was away for 91 days?

You do not meet the general residence requirement on that day, and Home Affairs cannot approve an application lodged then unless an exemption or a discretion applies. Wait until one more trip day is older than 12 months, so that 90 days remain inside the period.

### Do trips before I became a permanent resident count in the 90 days?

The question does not arise in the final year, because you must be a permanent resident for all 12 months. Trips in earlier years, on any visa, count only towards the 4-year limit of 12 months.

### Does a weekend trip to New Zealand count?

Yes. Every absence from Australia in the last 12 months counts towards the 90 days, however short it is and wherever you went.

### Does travel after I apply count?

No. The 90 days are measured in the 12 months before the day you apply. After you apply you can travel, but you must tell Home Affairs, and your application cannot be approved while you are outside Australia.

### How does Home Affairs know how long I was away?

The Department holds movement records of your arrivals and departures and checks them against the travel history you give in the application. You can request your own travel records from the Department before you apply.

## Sources

- [Department of Home Affairs - Become an Australian citizen by conferral, permanent residents and New Zealand citizens](https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/become-a-citizen/permanent-resident)
- [Australian Citizenship Act 2007, section 22 - Federal Register of Legislation](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2007A00020/latest/text)

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Countr is an app for iPhone that counts your days in every country for visa, tax and residency rules, from the photos on your phone and your location. It explains rules and counts days. It does not give legal or tax advice. https://apps.apple.com/app/country-days-tracker-countr/id6810720800