Temporary Residency - As a temporary resident:

• You have the right to live in Australia for the duration of your visa.
• You may have restricted working rights or no work rights, depending on the visa conditions attached to your visa.
• You are not entitled to public healthcare, which means you will need to purchase private health insurance from an Australian health insurance company.
• You are not entitled to claim any social security payments, including sickness and unemployment benefits. If you do claim social security, your visa sponsor or assurer will have to reimburse the government for the value of the payments.
• Depending on what kind of temporary visa you have, you may be able to apply for permanent residency after spending some time in Australia as a temporary resident.

Permanent Residency - As a Permanent Resident:

• You will be entitled to unrestricted work rights.
• You have the right to live in Australia for the duration of your visa.
• You will be entitled to public healthcare, administered through a Government scheme called Medicare.
• You are not entitled to claim any social security payments, including sickness and unemployment benefits. If you do claim social security, your visa sponsor or assurer will have to reimburse the government for the value of the payments.
• There is a waiting period before you are entitled to claim social security payments, including sickness and unemployment benefits.

Generally, permanent residents can work for any employer in any occupation, however, employment in the Australian Public Service or Defence Force is usually restricted to Australian citizens.

After living in Australia for at least two years as a permanent resident you may decide to apply for Australian citizenship or you can continue to retain your current citizenship.

As an Australian citizen, you can vote in Federal, State or local government elections or stand for election as a candidate in these elections