457 Visas and Residency

I believe you can apply for PR after 2 years but rules change frequently. Best idea is to contact your local OZ embassy or immi.gov.au and check with them or see here

I don't see a reason why you can't have PR. Concerning retirement in OZ all that counts is you can prove sufficient income to live from. Since this is a few years away the situation can change until then.

Hello.

Check out immi.gov.au as suggested by 2Curlews. It has all the different visas that you can apply for and is updated if the Australian government makes any changes. If your intention is to want to retire in Australia, you definitely should seek a PR.

You should ask your prospective employer if they can sponsor you and your wife when you can be eligible to apply for your PR. Based on what information you can find in the internet about converting a 457 visa to a PR visa, there are two ways, you either sponsor yourself through the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program or be sponsored by a company. Since you stated that you are already over 50 years old, you are no longer qualified to apply for the GSM program because it has an age restriction of up to only 50 years old. I'm assuming you might be an engineer by profession based on your name profile?

I don't know if you are aware but the risk of being sponsored by a company on the 457 visa is.. Worse case scenario - if you get laid off by your sponsoring company, you will not be able to work for another company using this same 457 visa. Your new employer will have to sponsor you on a new 457 visa. This is the risk that maybe people are not aware of. A PR visa is better in that you can live and work permanently in Australia. The person is not tied to a specific company.

If you follow the path of being able to renew your 457 visa and then plan to retire in Australia. You can probably do this but you will not be able to work without a valid visa that will allow you to work in Australia. I know for US citizens in visiting Australia, we just need to get an ETA that is valid for 1 yr. We can visit Australia as many times. However, we can stay up to 3 months at a time. We would just need to leave Australia before the 3 months are up. Then return back up to the year. Then reapply for the ETA if we want to extend our stay in Australia. But, we are not allowed to work.

I'm not sure what country you are from and if your country offers the same length of stay. Or maybe longer?

The following is a link to another expat forum that discusses more about the 457 visa based on their own experiences.
expatforum.com/expats/australia-expat-forum-expats-living-australia/80099-how-do-you-get-permanent-residency-457-a.html

Good Luck.