On the day you claim you must be all of the following:
- living in Australia
- physically in Australia.
You must also have one of the following:
- Australian citizenship
- a permanent visa
- a Special Category visa
- a certain temporary visa, that is a partner provisional or temporary protection type visa.
To keep using your card you must be living in Australia as an Australian resident, or a holder of one of these visas.
When you need to wait
If you've recently arrived as a resident in Australia, you may have to wait 2 or 4 years to get this card. There are some exemptions to this. Read more about the newly arrived resident’s waiting period.