Am I allowed to visit a non-designated regional area like Sydney or Melbourne on a 491 visa ?

Condition 8549 for the 489 visas and condition 8579 for the 491 visas requires that while the visa holder is in Australia, they must live, work and study only in a designated regional area.

Condition 8579 is not intended to prevent a visa holder from engaging in incidental activities outside a Designated Regional Area (DRA). Such activities may include:

• holidays
• work-related travel
• work-related training

The Department will adopt a flexible approach to the assessment of compliance with condition 8579, taking account of the personal circumstances affecting individual visa holders.

However, extended absences from the DRA may result in further scrutiny by the Department to ensure that the visa holder is or was living, working, and studying in the DRA during the relevant periods.

The Department may request further evidence from the visa holder on the reason for travel outside the DRA, where:

• the holder spends more than 90 days in total per annum outside the DRA, or
• the holder spends more than 60 continuous days outside the DRA, or
• there is a pattern of extended and/or frequent absences that are indicative of employment outside the DRA.