Looking to immigrate on 189 visa and start a family

[katmessenger]

My fiancé and I are looking to immigrate on a 189 visa. We are wondering if it is better to start a family here or when we get to Perth? We would want to apply for the visa just the two of us but the wait may be two years and we may start a family in that time. Thanks in advance

 

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by katmessenger

[ChrisH]

There are a couple of scenarios here:

1. You have the baby now and start the visa process once the baby is born, you will pay an additional $800 more or less for the child's visa.
2. You fall pregnant whilst applying for the visa, this could be an issue as they won't do medicals (as far as I know) on your wife during pregnancy as they need to do chest x-rays.  Without medicals they cannot grant your visas.
3. You get your 189 visa and have the baby in South Africa before moving to Australia.  You essentially need to have the entire family re-assessed for the visa to include the baby in your permanent residency.
4. You have the baby in Australia and he/she will immediately get citizenship. 

[TamTam]

Agree with @ChrisH and would like to add 2 points in favour of number 4 (have the baby in Aus)

 

• If your child is born after the 189 is issued then you need to apply for a child 101 visa (which I did); it's an expensive process and another frustrating wait of several months.
• We all fully expect to have completely healthy children however that is not always the case. There is the risk that your beautiful newborn baby may fail the medical and then your visa plans are kaput. 

[HappyIsland]

On 3/24/2019 at 9:54 AM, katmessenger said:

My fiancé and I are looking to immigrate on a 189 visa. We are wondering if it is better to start a family here or when we get to Perth? We would want to apply for the visa just the two of us but the wait may be two years and we may start a family in that time. Thanks in advance

 

 

This depends on so many factors. How many points have you been assessed as qualifying for and do you have an occupation on the critical skills list?
The required points to get an invite is high, and the number of visas are being reduced even further from July '19.
Nowadays people wait long to get an invite, while many simply don't get an invite at all.

 

Getting an invite is not guaranteed, so you have to ask yourself the question if you'd like to put your life on hold for something that is not guaranteed.
At the same time it's getting very tough to get into Australia, and each year it's getting even harder, so you wouldn't want to waste any time in starting the process.

I wouldn't put plans for a family on hold as this process could take anywhere from 18 months to 2+ years, depending on your circumstances. 

[TeeTMI]

On 3/25/2019 at 8:34 AM, ChrisH said:

There are a couple of scenarios here:

1. You fall pregnant whilst applying for the visa, this could be an issue as they won't do medicals (as far as I know) on your wife during pregnancy as they need to do chest x-rays.  Without medicals they cannot grant your visas.

 

Theoretically it is possible to undertake the Medical Assessment whilst pregnant, however most people do not. 

The issue is that the medical includes X-rays being taken of your chest.  There are some Doctors who will agree to conduct X-rays at some specific stages of the pregnancy where it is felt there is less risk to the unborn child, however on the whole most people and doctors would prefer not to incur any risk during pregnancy and so wait until after the baby has been born. 

Where pregnancy does occur the case officer will delay the processing of your visa to enable you to undertake the X-ray at a more appropriate time.
 

In addition to the above - changes occur over time with the process (sometimes better sometimes worse depending upon your circumstances) if you are keen on obtaining permanent residence and are eligible then I would normally suggest giving it serious consideration.