Category: Family visas

AUSTRALIAN TEMPORARY SPONSORED PARENT VISA

New Australian Temporary Sponsored Parent Visa

Posted by Rebecca Berkovic on

The Federal Government announced this month that the new Australian Temporary Sponsored Parent visa will be introduced in November 2017.

The Government stated that 15,000 visas will be available to parents of Australian residents annually under the new visa program.

If relevant, it is therefore important to lodge this application as soon as possible to obtain one of the available places.

Proposed Requirements of the New Australian Temporary Sponsored Parent Visa

The temporary sponsored parent visa will allow parents of Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents and eligible New Zealand citizens to travel to and remain in Australia for periods of up to three or five years.

The visa may be renewed from outside Australia to allow a cumulative stay of up to ten years.

Sponsorship

To be eligible for a Temporary Parent visa, it is proposed that the applicant must be sponsored by their Australian child who must meet the following requirements:

  • The sponsor must have been living in and contributing to Australia for a number of years. This is to ensure sponsors have had sufficient time to become engaged with the Australian community and to contribute to Australia financially. A longer period of contribution in Australia would provide a higher priority in eligibility; and
  • The sponsor will be required to show they can support their parents, if necessary. This will include income and asset assessments.

Bond Arrangements

It is proposed that sponsors should be required to provide a financial bond as a debt security.  This will enable the Australian Government to recoup costs where sponsorship obligations have not been honoured.  It is suggested that the bond amount be ‘significant’ in order to cover a parent’s potential health costs over a five year period.

Visa Application

It  has been proposed that the new Temporary Parent visa be granted with a stay period of up to five years, but that it could also be granted for periods of one, three or five years.

The length of the visa would be determined by the following factors, including:

  • the needs of the applicant or their sponsoring child;
  • the capacity of the applicant and/or their sponsoring child to support their stay in Australia;
  • the health and age of the visa applicant; and
  • the applicant’s previous immigration history.

Exact requirements for the new Temporary Sponsored Parent visa will be made available in November 2017.

For advice regarding Australian visas, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@hartmanlawyers.com.au for Australian immigration assistance.

Disclaimer:

The information on this website is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on relevant matters. It is not intended to be comprehensive nor does it constitute legal advice. You are advised to seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content contained in this website.

Australian visa dependents

Redefining Dependents for Australian Visa Applications

Posted by Rebecca Berkovic on

Redefining dependents for Australian visa applications- The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has recently narrowed the definition of “members of the family unit” of a visa applicant who can be included in the visa application to travel to Australia. These changes took effect at the end of 2016.

Essentially, dependent relatives other than children are no longer able to be included and children of visa applicants are now required to be “dependent” on the primary visa applicant, either because they are under 18, are under 23 and do not support themselves or over 23 and incapacitated to work. The new definition does not apply to certain visas such as humanitarian and student visas which each have their own requirements.

Previous definition of dependency

Prior to 19 November 2016, it was possible to include dependent relatives on various Australian visa applications who were ‘members of the family unit’ of the primary visa application.  This was quite a broad definition as in addition to partners and children, parents and other relatives could be included provided the visa applicant could show financial and practical dependency.

New definition of dependency

The DIBP has narrowed the definition of dependency and now the only “members of the family unit” that can be included in relevant Australian visa applications are as follows:

  • Partners (including spouses and de facto partners);
  • Children (including biological, step and adopted children) under 18 and certain other eligible children of the primary visa applicant (as explained below); and
  • Any dependent child of eligible children of the primary visa applicant.

It is important to note that children of the primary visa applicant over the age of 23 can generally no longer be included as they were in the past.  Children between the ages of 18 and 23 can only be included if they are financially dependent on the primary applicant.  There is a limited exception where a dependent child over the age of 23 is incapacitated to work.

Grandfathering Arrangements

Grandfathering arrangements have been implemented by the DIBP for people already holding temporary visas who may apply for permanent residency at a future date.  Therefore, secondary applicants who have been granted visas by the DIBP as “members of the family unit” will be deemed to continue to meet this definition when applying for permanent Australian visas.

Holders of the following visas are deemed to be “members of the family unit” even if they no longer meet the new definition when applying for Australian permanent residency:

  1. Members of the family unit of Temporary Work (Skilled)(subclass 457) visas applying for Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS)(subclass 186) and Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)(subclass 187) visas;
  2. Members of the family unit holding Skilled Regional Provisional (subclass 489) visa applying for Skilled Regional Permanent (subclass 187) visas; and
  3. Members of the family unit of Temporary Contributory Parent visas applying for permanent Contributory Parent (subclass 243 and 864) visas; and
  4. Members of the family unit of Provisional Business Skills (subclass 188) visas applying for Permanent Business Skills (subclass 888) visas.

The grandfathering arrangements also apply to holders of a subclass 457 visa who apply for a further subclass 457 visa.

For more information on applying for an Australian visa, please feel free to contact the author by email at rebecca@hartmanlawyers.com.au or by telephone on +61 3 9021 0986 or +61 (0)423 701 747.

Disclaimer:

The information on this website is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on relevant matters. It is not intended to be comprehensive nor does it constitute legal advice. You are advised to seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content contained in this website.

Proposal for New Australian Temporary Parent Visa

Posted by Rebecca Berkovic on

The proposal for a New Australian Temporary Parent visa released by the Federal Government has been welcomed as an additional visa option for overseas parents. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has published a discussion paper, ”Introducing a temporary visa for parents” regarding a new temporary visa for parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents.  The DIBP has invited the public to provide feedback regarding the development of the proposed new Temporary Parent visa which is now under discussion.

The proposed Temporary Parent visa will be a five year visa and is intended to enhance arrangements for parents of Australians to spend time with family in Australia without creating a ‘cost burden’ to the Australian economy.

Current Australian Parent Visa Options

Currently, the primary visa options accessed by parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents include:

  1. Visitor Visas: Parents currently have the option of using Visitor (Subclass 600) visas to spend time with their children in Australia. Visitor visas are not designed to allow a person to stay in Australia for longer than12 months.
  2. Parent (non-contributory) visas: This visa includes the Parent (subclass 103) visa for offshore applicants, and the Aged Parent (subclass 804) visa for applicants in Australia. The demand for this visa far outweighs the number of available places and new applicants can expect to wait approximately 30 years before a decision can be made on their application.
  3. Contributory Parent visas: This visa is for parents who are able to pay a higher application fee to obtain their visa. These visa applications are generally finalised within two years from time of lodgement.  Applicants for this visa pay a total application fee of $47,295 for the main applicant and $44,845 for their spouse or de facto partner.
  4. Investor retirement (subclass 405) visa: This visa is a temporary visa for people aged 55 years or older. Applicants must have a minimum income of $65,000 and assets of at least $750,000 (or $50,000 and $500,000, respectively, for applicants who intend to live in a regional area). Applicants for this visa are also required to make a significant long-term financial investment into a state or territory government treasury bonds.

Proposed Requirements of the New Australian Temporary Parent Visa

The exact requirements of the proposed new Australian Temporary Parent visa are still being developed.  The discussion paper has suggested that the new visa should include the following requirements for future applicants:

Sponsorship

To be eligible for a Temporary Parent visa, it is proposed that the applicant must be sponsored by their Australian child who must meet the following requirements:

  • The sponsor must have been living in and contributing to Australia for a number of years. This is to ensure sponsors have had sufficient time to become engaged with the Australian community and to contribute to Australia financially. A longer period of contribution in Australia would provide a higher priority in eligibility; and
  • The sponsor will be required to show they can support their parents, if necessary. This will include income and asset assessments.

Bond Arrangements

It is proposed that sponsors should be required to provide a financial bond as a debt security.  This will enable the Australian Government to recoup costs where sponsorship obligations have not been honoured.  It is suggested that the bond amount be ‘significant’ in order to cover a parent’s potential health costs over a five year period.

Visa Application

It  has been proposed that the new Temporary Parent visa be granted with a stay period of up to five years, but that it could also be granted for periods of one, three or five years.

The length of the visa would be determined by the following factors, including:

  • the needs of the applicant or their sponsoring child;
  • the capacity of the applicant and/or their sponsoring child to support their stay in Australia;
  • the health and age of the visa applicant; and
  • the applicant’s previous immigration history.

Development of the New Temporary Parent Visa

This visa is still in the discussion stage and consultations will continue regarding the specific requirements for this proposed visa.  The Australian Government is still in the process of determining whether and under what terms this new Temporary Parent visa will come into effect and is currently accepting submissions, with submissions being due by midnight 31 October 2016.

The introduction of the proposed Temporary Parent visa would be welcomed by many Australians with parents overseas as it would provide an alternative parent visa to the current limited options available to parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents.

For advice regarding Australian visas, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@hartmanlawyers.com.au for Australian immigration assistance.

Disclaimer:

The information on this website is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on relevant matters. It is not intended to be comprehensive nor does it constitute legal advice. You are advised to seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content contained in this website.

Termination of Non-Contributory Parent and ‘Other Family’ visas

Posted by Rebecca Berkovic on

The Australian Federal Government has announced a cessation of new applications for Non-Contributory Parent and ‘Other Family’ visas under the family migration program. The termination will affect the following visa subclasses:

  • Parent (subclass 103)
  • Aged Parent (subclass 804)
  • Aged Dependent Relative (114)
  • Remaining Relative (115)
  • Carer (116)
  • Remaining Relative (835)
  • Carer (836)
  • Aged Dependent Relative (838).

The cessation of the above subclasses is expected to come into effect before or at the end of the current financial
year. Notably, visa applications for Non-Contributory Parent and ‘Other Family’ visas can still be lodged. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has provided the following advice:

“Applications can still validly be lodged. All valid applications will remain in the pipeline and be processed in due course. The cessation of new applications under the Other Family and Non-Contributory Parent visas will take place prior to the start of the 2014-15 programme year.” 

Therefore any applications for the above visa subclasses should be lodged as a matter of urgency.

Please contact us for further information regarding Non-Contributory Parent and ‘Other Family’ visas.

Disclaimer:

The information on this website is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on relevant matters. It is not intended to be comprehensive nor does it constitute legal advice. You are advised to seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content contained in this website.