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15 Nov 2016

5 Things You Need To Know About Australia’s New Temporary Parent Visa

The Australian Government will introduce a new parent visa before 1 July 2017, making it easier for Australian citizens and permanent residents to have their parents visit them in Australia.

Here’s the Government’s discussion paper about the changes, with details to be finalised later this year. It is quite detailed, so we’ve simplified it to the top 5 things you need to know:

1. It will be a more affordable visa option for parents of migrants, and less lengthy too. No price has been set yet for the visa, but the Government has said it will be “more affordable” than current parent visa options. Australia currently has 2 migration options for parents – a $5935 visa with a 30-year queue period or an approximately $47,000 visa with a two-year queue.

Although parents can use general temporary visitor options which are much cheaper, these have time limits between three and twelve months. The new visa options will provide parents of migrants both a less expensive and lengthy option to be with their children in Australia.

2. The new visa will allow parents of migrants to stay in Australia for up to five years. This provides the option for a longer stay and applicants can also still apply for permanent migration.

3. The child sponsor must be able to support their parent financially. This will need to be demonstrated in the visa application. The Government says, ‘Sponsors have a significant responsibility to support their parents, particularly in situations where they are not financially independent, or do not have functional English.’

4. Visa holders must obtain private health insurance and won’t be eligible for government healthcare or welfare during their stay. This is because the visa is designed to allow parents to live with their children in Australia, without the associated cost in government services.

5. Things to stay tuned for: Details on age limits and whether there will be a set number of parent visas available per year. As the Government confirms regulations for the new visa, we will certainly bring you updates.

Would you like your parent(s) to visit you in Australia? For updates, be sure to subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Or to understand more about the government’s family visa processing times, read our post here.

Source: SBS News


Sheila Woods

Posted by: Sheila Woods

A very experienced migration agent, Sheila has always been fascinated by this field. Her university degree thesis was on Australia’s post-war immigration history (and it earned her first-class honours).


Filed in: Visas

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