Australia / New Zealand skilled permanent residence

Question

If I obtain Australian or New Zealand permanent residence through the skilled independent category:

1. When must I move to the country?

2. What will happen if I don't ever move?

3. If the permanent residence gets canceled by the country, can I apply for a new one later?

Answer 1

1. From my personal experience in 2014: Your visa will have the "Must enter before:" date, that's the latest date you must cross the border to activate your visa. Usually, it's 1 year after your medical examination date (or 6 months if you have some health problems).

   If you will make this border crossing you can return to your country and you will have 4 years to move into AU (from the date of visa issue). It will be in your visa in "Must not arrive after:" field.

2. My research on that question back in 2014: In that case, your cannot use your visa for entering Australia. If your visa was activated, you will be able to apply for Return Resident Visa, but I'm not sure that it'll be successful if you spent too little time in AU in that 4 years.

3. My opinion: I think you can apply, but the result will depend on reason of cancellation.

Answer 2

From my experience this year, being granted a Permanent Resident Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) for Australia:

1. The visa has a "must visit Australia on or before" date, which is one year from the earliest date of your medical or police check. If you do not visit Australia before this date, the visa is (I believe) cancelled. The date cannot be changed.
2. If you never move, well, you never move. See 1. :)
3. In what scenario do you envisage the PR getting cancelled? Certainly Australia may opt to deport Permanent Residents (who have not taken citizenship) if they commit certain crimes (example). But I'm not aware of scenarios where a PR visa can be cancelled.
4. (bonus answer) If you are an Australian Permanent Resident you can freely live and work in New Zealand. (Note that the reverse of this does not apply)