Following a Freedom of Information request of the Department of Home Affairs we have details of the number of permanent residency visa applications lodged by subclass 410 and 405 visa holders that were on hand at 31 March 2023.

The Retirement Pathway is the means by which the holders of subclass 410 and 405 visas can obtain permanent residency.  Subclass 410 and 405 visas are no longer available to new applicants – they can only be renewed by existing 410 and 405 visa holders.

The numbers are as follows, with numbers at 31 July 2022 in italics.

Subclass 143 – 11 ; was 14

Subclass 103 – 212 ; was 207

From this we might reasonably conclude that subclass 103 visa applications under the Retirement Pathway have not yet started to be processed, even though the Department indicated that processing of such applications would commence in the current program year (to 30 June 2023).