Generally, a subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa will have no conditions. This is a direct permanent residence pathway, resulting in a permanent residence visa with a "travel facility" of 5 years from date of grant. If the visa holder is outside Australia at the end of the 5 years and has not obtained a further residence visa (resident return visa or RRV) then the visa ceases. As with other permanent residence visas, there will be an initial entry date to Australia which can be considered a soft condition. This is usually a date within a year of the grant of the visa and requires the applicant to enter Australia before that date. I refer to it as a soft condition because the department has stated they would not cancel a visa just because this was not met, and it's relatively easy to request for a "letter of facilitation" that effectively provides consent to bypass this requirement without penalty. In terms of the resident return visa, the application requirements are not conditions. If they're not met and the RRV obtained, there is no impact, but the permanent residence visa will cease after the 5 years when the applicant is outside Australia. The most common way to meet the RRV requirements is to spend at least 2 years cumulatively in Australia as a holder of a permanent residence visa in the 5 years before the RRV application. If using the stay in Australia to meet the requirements, your salary or employment is not considered. Other ways can include demonstrating strong links to Australia (substantial ties that are of benefit to Australia) and factors such as employment, business, personal and cultural links can be considered. Lastly, if the applicant has a spouse (or parent if they're a dependent child) that also holds an RRV, an application can be made to obtain an RRV based on that relationship. It's worth noting that an RRV can be obtained after the permanent residence visa has ceased, as long as it has not been cancelled. There are a complex set of rules around this - often the limitations can be up to 5 or 10 years depending on circumstances, but I have successfully assisted applicants with applications after 10 years away from Australia. A good general tip, if your permanent residence visa ceases and you're not able to apply for an RRV now, make sure you visit Australia at least once every 5 years as a visitor as this can make applying for an RRV in the future easier.
