New Temp 5 year Parent Visas (for July 2017) announced

[TeeTMI]

New Temp Parent Visa announcement by Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke 23rd Sept 2016.
 

The temporary sponsored parent visa will allow Australians to sponsor their parents to stay in Australia for up to five years (The visa is expected to take effect on July 1, 2017.)
 

The Assistant Minister announced a series of community consultations and called for public submissions to assist with the final design of the new temporary visa.
 

A discussion paper containing the design issues under consideration was released today. Discussion Paper http://www.border.gov.au/about/reports-publications/discussion-papers-submissions/temporary-visa-for-parents

Public submissions must be received by midnight, Monday 31 October 2016
 

"The Turnbull Government recognises that many Australian migrant communities face particular pressures through the separation of children from parents and grandchildren from grandparents," Mr Hawke said.
 

Mr Hawke acknowledged the current visa program as inefficient, sometimes resulting in wait times of 30 years. The current visa system for parents of either Australian citizens or permanent residents into two streams: the 'non-contributor' visa which takes 18-30 years to process and costs $7,000, and the 'contributor' visa which has about a two-year processing time at $50,000.
 

The announcement comes after the recent Productivity Commission report which discussed the costs of migrating parent's “A high cost for a relatively small group,” the report stated, given that their contribution to Australia was “typically poor”. The commission recommended an overhaul of the visa scheme, proposing among others that families of non-contributing parents paid for any income and health support during their residence.

[Jordy]

@Orphan I would interested in your comments on this as you are so involved. 

[TeeTMI]

I have taken a quick look at the document and consideration appears to be being made towards

- ability to vary the visa over 1, 3 or 5 years (possibly dependent upon meeting criteria, e.g. funds to support / health)
- will need to be sponsored by an Australian child
- sponsor likely need to have been living in Australia for a number of years
- sponsor able to show ability support
- may require a bond arrangement (similar to AoS)
- consideration is being made re work eligibility & English requirements

 

The DIBP have also stated If you would like to make a written submission on the development of a temporary stay parent visa, or on issues raised in this discussion paper, send an email to: temporary.parent.visa@border.gov.au.

 

[Orphan]

@Jordy.

Thank you for bringing this welcome news to the attention of all parents.  

 

This is a significant step for the Australian Government  to have taken, but hardly surprising in view of the increasing pressure being applied by the petition on Change.Org, which has attracted some 28000 signatures.

 

I think this temporary visa (which appears to be heading in the direction of a 5-year continuous stay) will go a long way towards relieving the pressure on the various classes of Parent Visas.  However, there are a number of unanswered questions at this time.

 

1.  Will this visa be capped?  Limiting the number of visa grants each year is the cause of the long queues faced by the Parent Visa classes;

2.  What will the visa cost?  The total cost of the visa could be quite expensive, particularly if it requires an Assurance of Support bond, and there is the possibiliyy of the income benchmark being set too high for some families;

3.  What will the compulsory private health insurance cost?  Such insurance premiums are bound to reflect the high-risk status of most applicants for this type of visa

 

Having said this, I believe that many Australian families will welcome this opportunity, no matter what it costs!  5 years of quality time with one's elderly parents is a great deal better than the current sitution.

 

But I must ring a very loud warning bell to all those intending to apply for the 143 Contributory Parent Visa 

It has been reported in the local press that the Productivity Commission has also recommended that the Government "substantially hike" the AU$50,000 fee for Contributory Parent Visas.  This on the basis that the current fee meets " only a fraction" of the costs to stay in this country as a permanent resident.

Quite what this means is anyone's guess at this stage, but as the five-year temporary visa is expected to be implemented from 01 July 2017, it is quite likely that the 143 Visa fee will be increased to its new price level at the same time. Applications lodged before the increase shouldn't be affected, and thus it would pay everyone planning to apply for a 143 Contributory Parent Visa, to do so as soon as possible.  Further, history shows that fee increases don;t always take place at the start of the Australian Tax Year, and so one should be prepared for an earlier implementation date than 01 July

Edited September 26, 2016 by Orphan

[TeeTMI]

I should start this by saying I do not have any information at this point so the following is pure speculation.

 

My concern is that whilst it is intended that the visa can be applied for repeatedly that there will be health criteria to be met.  As a migration agent I see cases where parents health circumstances change whilst waiting for e.g. the non-contributory visa or where people are on the temporary retirement/investor visa option.

Therefore, if a parent is looking at permanent residence and if they are able to meet the requirements for that visa they should seriously consider doing so (in a similar way that a 457 visa has some risk should there be a change in circumstances before obtaining PR).

 

I wonder whether this may provide a way for the non-Contributory parent visa to be removed - as was previously attempted before its cancellation was revoked by Senate.    

[RedPanda]

Wow, this is quite a surprise, and certainly something to keep an eye on. Thanks for the heads up!

[bbop]

i'm wondering if one would still need to meet the child test requirement.

[21yearsoutofrsa]

23 hours ago, Orphan said:

@Jordy.

Thank you for bringing this welcome news to the attention of all parents.  

 

This is a significant step for the Australian Government  to have taken, but hardly surprising in view of the increasing pressure being applied by the petition on Change.Org, which has attracted some 28000 signatures.

 

I think this temporary visa (which appears to be heading in the direction of a 5-year continuous stay) will go a long way towards relieving the pressure on the various classes of Parent Visas.  However, there are a number of unanswered questions at this time.

 

1.  Will this visa be capped?  Limiting the number of visa grants each year is the cause of the long queues faced by the Parent Visa classes;

2.  What will the visa cost?  The total cost of the visa could be quite expensive, particularly if it requires an Assurance of Support bond, and there is the possibiliyy of the income benchmark being set too high for some families;

3.  What will the compulsory private health insurance cost?  Such insurance premiums are bound to reflect the high-risk status of most applicants for this type of visa

 

Having said this, I believe that many Australian families will welcome this opportunity, no matter what it costs!  5 years of quality time with one's elderly parents is a great deal better than the current sitution.

 

But I must ring a very loud warning bell to all those intending to apply for the 143 Contributory Parent Visa 

It has been reported in the local press that the Productivity Commission has also recommended that the Government "substantially hike" the AU$50,000 fee for Contributory Parent Visas.  This on the basis that the current fee meets " only a fraction" of the costs to stay in this country as a permanent resident.

Quite what this means is anyone's guess at this stage, but as the five-year temporary visa is expected to be implemented from 01 July 2017, it is quite likely that the 143 Visa fee will be increased to its new price level at the same time. Applications lodged before the increase shouldn't be affected, and thus it would pay everyone planning to apply for a 143 Contributory Parent Visa, to do so as soon as possible.  Further, history shows that fee increases don;t always take place at the start of the Australian Tax Year, and so one should be prepared for an earlier implementation date than 01 July

In the report that started this discussion paper the cost of of a parent visa holder was estimated to be between $335k and $410k per adult.

 

Two issue that I foresee:

 

after rolling over this visa 2 or 3 times a parent or parents no longer meet the criteria and are required to leave. I foresee many many appeals to the minister for compassionate grounds to extend again and again.

 

there will be occasions when the sponsoring child will no longer meet the requirements, redundancy, illness. Once again there will be a lot of compassionate ground appeals.

migrant-intake-report-overview.pdf

[TeeTMI]

17 hours ago, bbop said:

i'm wondering if one would still need to meet the child test requirement.

 

My recollection was that the FAQs suggested that currently they are suggesting that the balance of family would not need to be met. 

 

49 minutes ago, 20yearsoutofrsa said:

Two issue that I foresee:

 

after rolling over this visa 2 or 3 times a parent or parents no longer meet the criteria and are required to leave. I foresee many many appeals to the minister for compassionate grounds to extend again and again.

 

there will be occasions when the sponsoring child will no longer meet the requirements, redundancy, illness. Once again there will be a lot of compassionate ground appeals.

migrant-intake-report-overview.pdf

 

I also have similar concerns - as above if a parent is looking at permanent residence and if they are able to meet the requirements for that visa they should seriously consider doing so.  It is an awful part of my job hearing where a persons circumstances have changed and they are no longer eligible under the pathway they were working towards and may need to leave.

 

 

[Mel-B]

Do you think the contributory parent visa will still remain in place? That is what my mom will use once she is old enough, I am terrified now that it will get either more expensive or be taken away as an option

[Orphan]

@Mel-B

I am unsure what you mean by "That is what my mom will use once she is old enough", as age is not a criteria in terms of the application.  Nevertheless, as the Contributory Parent Visa will undoubtedly get more expensive, and even by a significant amount in the near future, you shouldn't delay if you/your Mom intend to apply for this visa.  

[TeeTMI]

On 30/09/2016 at 7:23 PM, Mel-B said:

Do you think the contributory parent visa will still remain in place? That is what my mom will use once she is old enough, I am terrified now that it will get either more expensive or be taken away as an option

 

As Orphan states above the Contributory parent visa can be applied for at any age. 

I doubt the Contributory visa will be removed, the temporary visa fills a different need.  

[Mel-B]

Thank you for your answers! I was under the impression she needed to be 65 or older. Perhaps I'm wrong on another account then - apart from the age we are waiting to reside in Oz as PR for 2 years before she applies (we are 8 months in) - is this a requirement?

[TeeTMI]

You only need to be 65 if applying for the 'Aged' version of the Contributory Parent Visa (onshore application). 

You would need to meet the definition of 'settled' which policy generally considers as a 2 year period.

[RedPanda]

Hi, I admit that I read the start of the thread and then skipped to the end...

Is there any  news on this visa? Does it have a number yet, with info on the government website? It might be of interest to us in the years to come.

[TeeTMI]

Hi,

I have not seen anything yet I know there is a lot of interest in this visa.  Often no details are provided until they come into effect. 

[Riekie]

Also watching this thread with great interest... 

[Kevin]

Same here. I have read through some of the feedback from the public. There are some reasonably pragmatic views there, intermingled with some interesting personal stories. Most of the responses I have read have been remarkably positive.

[Sassyninja]

Sorry to dig this up again, I definitely think its worth while to have the option for parents to apply for permanency. 

 

Do you think with this new temporary visa the other parent visas will be scrapped? 

 

 

[Sassyninja]

My agent suggested that this parent visa may replace all other types of parent visas????