A discussion paper has been released by the Australian
Government proposing the introduction of a new temporary parent visa.
The proposal is in response to a Productivity Commission
report on Migrant Intake into Australia which indicated that the lifetime cost
for permanent parent visa holders was over $300,000 in terms of health and
community services. This strongly suggests that the application fees for
permanent parent visas will be increased in the near future.
The proposed visa gives an extended stay for parents of
Australian permanent residents and citizens as an alternative to the current
permanent parent options.
This article gives some details of the proposed visa - please
note that the information below may be subject to change once the consultation
process has been completed.
Sponsorship
Parents would need to be sponsored by an Australian child.
This would need to be done prior to making the visa application, and the
sponsor would need to show that they are of good character.
The sponsor would need to show that they have lived in and
"contributed" to Australia for some time. It is not clear at this
stage what is meant by "contributed" but it would appear that the
sponsor will need to show evidence of their taxable income and show that they
are able to financially support their parents. The discussion paper indicates
that the longer the sponsor contributes to Australia, the higher priority they
will receive when sponsoring their parents.
Visa Duration
The visa will be valid for up to 5 years, but could be
granted for a shorter period - say 1 or 3 years. The period of validity appears
to be discretionary - and may depend on:
Health and age of
applicant
Immigration history
Financial capacity of the applicant or sponsor - for example,
the validity period may be longer if the parent is financially independent
Needs of the applicant or sponsor - for example, if the
parent is being sponsored to help with caring for children, this need may
reduce as children get older
Health Requirement
Applicants will need to undertake medicals and show that they
meet the health criteria. We envisage that this would be similar to the current
arrangements for health checks for temporary visas. Under this system, the
required health checks depend on the intended duration of stay and the risk
level of the country of passport and residence.
Full private health insurance will be required and this would
need to be taken out through an Australian health insurance company.
Assurance of Support
Bond
A bond would be required, and this would need to be
sufficient to cover a parent's potentially health costs for the period of stay.
Any costs to the Australian government for health care or other services would
be paid for out of the bond.
The bond could be in one of the following forms:
A contingent loan: this would be similar to the Higher
Education Loan Program and would see the sponsor pay back any costs through the
tax system.
Investment in state or territory bonds: on maturity, the bond
would be repaid, less any incurred costs
Enforceable legally binding agreement
Visa Application Fee
Whilst there is no indication of the likely fee, the paper
suggests that this could be quite high as the charge would need to address the
impact on infrastructure and services.
English Requirement
The discussion paper suggests that the visa may require
applicants to show that they have at least functional English, or that they are
improving their English language ability over time.
Renewing the Visa
The paper indicates that the applicant will need to be
outside Australia when lodging a renewal of the visa. It is not clear at this
stage whether the applicant needs to be outside Australia when making the
initial application.
Effect on Parent Visa
Applications
The discussion paper indicates that applying for the new visa
will not have any effect on the ability to apply for a permanent parent visa.
This also implies that permanent parent visas will still be available after the
new visa is introduced. However, the concerns expressed in the Productivity
Commission report suggests that the application fees for permanent parent visas
may be increased to address the cost to the community.
Conclusion
The proposed visa would mean that Australian citizens and
permanent residents could sponsor parents to stay with them for extended
periods. Arrangements would be made to minimize the cost to the community of
their stay.
Compared to a visitor visa, the new visa would allow a longer
period of continuous stay (up to 5 years).
Given the comments in the Productivity Commission report, we
would expect that the application fees for permanent parent visas may be
increased significantly in the near future. Anyone seeking to sponsor parents
may wish to look at proceeding as soon as possible to avoid the increase.
For More:
Comments
Post a Comment