Help with parent visa

[tracy holland 1]

Hi can anyone help me my family and i are moving out to Oz in September. My parents are hoping to come out and apply for aged parent visa when there, when printing the forms today they say certain visitors visas have restrictions on them that prevent this!!!! has anyone got any info that would help:arghh: Thankyou

[snifter]

Hi there,

 

Have you tried a search on the forum via the search option for 'Aged parent visa' or try this link

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/search.php?searchid=717148

 

It has loads of info for you on it all from past threads on the subject.

[Guest liotis]

They can apply while here on a holiday visa. I looked into this 3 yrs ago when my parents came out.The aged parent visa can take 10 years to process but they can stay here while its being processed, howver they wont be able to work until its cleared and then only 20 hours a week. If that suits you its a good way to go.

My parents wanted to work and ended up coming over and applying for the contributing parents visa. They now have PM but it cost a great deal of money. It was about 70K plus a further 14K health guarantee that they would get back after 10 years.

But both can be applied for while over here from all the investigations I did then.

[Guest jasongd]

Hi,

 

I dont but I know who will, There is someone on this forum who I think knows everything about immigration, I think his name is GOLLYWOBBLER, hope that is correct.

 

 

Jason

[Alan Collett]

Please be aware that your parents need a sponsor who is "settled" in Australia.

 

Best regards.

[Alan Collett]

PS. Condition 8503 is the condition applied to certain visas that would prevent an onshore application:

http://www.iarc.asn.au/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=40040

[tracy holland 1]

Thanx for the info will check it out.

[tracy holland 1]

Thats really helpful thankyou they are both in their late 70's so work not a problem. Feel better now

[tracy holland 1]

Thankyou for that my sister lives in Oz and is a citizen so will sponser.

[tracy holland 1]

This information has made things much clearer thankyou.

[yenajisjaney]

hi my mum is over here on a tourist visa, i made an enquiry with diac the other day bout parent visa as i want to apply for her whilst shes here, the only darn thing is she got to pass this "balance of family" test, since she only got 3 children, my bro is aboroad and my sissy is at home, and im here, i was told that she needs atleast 2 of her kids settled here in au, before we can think to apply for any of those visa ie..parent visa, aged parent visa, contributory visa...hope this help u as im on d same boat

[tracy holland 1]

Thanx for that it's a mine field isn't it balance of family ok as we will be there and my sis is already an oz citizen!!!! did your mum just have a normal visitor visa when she came over and how long did she have this for. Mum and dad not sure what length visa to get to oz so can apply there.

[Gollywobbler]

Thanx for that it's a mine field isn't it balance of family ok as we will be there and my sis is already an oz citizen!!!! did your mum just have a normal visitor visa when she came over and how long did she have this for. Mum and dad not sure what length visa to get to oz so can apply there.

 

Hi Tracy

 

Your parents need to get one of the short stay Visitor Visas - either subclass 651 or subclass 976. It does not matter which one - it merely has to be one of the short stay visas because those cannot attract Condition 8503, which Alan Collett mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/visa-options.htm

 

They might as well get the subclass 651 e-Visitor visa if they are from an EU country because those are free.

 

It is NOT a good idea for them to obtain the subclass 676 Tourist Visa instead, partly because the sc 676 visa can attract Condition 8503. If that Condition is imposed then it is not possible to make a valid application for either a Contributory Aged Parent visa or a non-contributory Aged Parent visa, so if your parents want the option of being able to decide what to do next, they MUST get short stay visitor visas to start with, to ensure that Condition 8503 will not cause a problem by removing the choice.

 

The other thing that miliates against the sc 676 long stay Tourist visa in this case is that you say that your Parents are in their "late 70s." If they apply to stay in Oz for more than 90 days, DIAC may well insist that they undergo the Aged Visitor Health Check:

 

http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/Visas_and_Migration.html

 

http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/health.html

 

The Aged Visitor Health Check used to be quite simple because the person just had to see their own GP. However they now have to see one of DIAC's Panel Doctors, which costs more and is often inconvenient because the number os Panel Doctors in the UK was cut very sharply early in 2010.

 

You have not said whether your Parents are thinking about applying for a Contributory Aged Parent Visa or the non-contributory version. The details in the thread below apply regardless of which of these two Parent migration options is chosen.

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/adelaide-migration-issues/4509-cheap-parent-visas-part-i.html

 

Please read the thread carefully because what your Parents CANNOT do is to rock up at an airport in Oz and announce to the passport control staff that they have arrived in Oz with the intention of staying there permanently! They can change their minds about their intentions AFTER they have arrived in Australia but they are not eligible for any sort of Visitor or Tourist Visa if they get those when they never intend to depart from Australia.

 

It is essential to impress upon your Parents that they must go Oz with nothing but a short visit in mind and then they must see how they feel AFTER they have reached Oz. It is actually premature even to consider their long-term visa options before one's parents have reached Australia unless it has been decided that they will apply for the offshore Contributory Parent visa.

 

The CAPV takes about 6 months to process. The non-contributory APV takes 15-18 years to process.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Gollywobbler]

hi my mum is over here on a tourist visa, i made an enquiry with diac the other day bout parent visa as i want to apply for her whilst shes here, the only darn thing is she got to pass this "balance of family" test, since she only got 3 children, my bro is aboroad and my sissy is at home, and im here, i was told that she needs atleast 2 of her kids settled here in au, before we can think to apply for any of those visa ie..parent visa, aged parent visa, contributory visa...hope this help u as im on d same boat

 

Hi Janey

 

You have my every sympathy. We had 13 years of visa hassle because my own mother also didn't comply with the Balance of Family Test in the early years.

 

Tell me, please. You say that your mother has 3 children. Did she give birth to all 3 of the children or is one of you her step-child by any happy chance? You can get round the BoF Test if one of the children is actually a step-child.

 

If that is not possible because she is the biological mother of all 3 of you, is your mother happy with just visiting Oz from time to time on tourist visas instead?

 

We were told about the old subclass 410 Retirement Visa for my mother but we decided against it. We felt that it was too marginal financially - she could only just have afforded a Retirement Visa, which wouldn't have left any money in "the pot" for inflation in future years etc, so we felt that it would be too risky for us. Since then, the only option is now the subclass 405 Investor Retirement Visa, which Mum would not be able to afford on any level. Her income is not high enough and she does not have enough capital either.

 

Where the BoF Test is a stumbling block and Investor Retirement is not affordable, the only other option is to get the Parent a Student Visa. However whether that is a sensible option really depends on the age of the Parent and whether s/he really wants to become a student again, I reckon. There is no upper age limit with Student visas but my mother was too old in herself - she was 70 when my father died - and she was too disinclined to study anything at her age, so that meant that a Student visa would not have been a sensible option for my own mother but it may be a viable option for a parent who is younger and wouldn't mind being the oldest student on the campus etc!

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[yenajisjaney]

Hi Janey

 

You have my every sympathy. We had 13 years of visa hassle because my own mother also didn't comply with the Balance of Family Test in the early years.

 

Tell me, please. You say that your mother has 3 children. Did she give birth to all 3 of the children or is one of you her step-child by any happy chance? You can get round the BoF Test if one of the children is actually a step-child.

 

If that is not possible because she is the biological mother of all 3 of you, is your mother happy with just visiting Oz from time to time on tourist visas instead?

 

We were told about the old subclass 410 Retirement Visa for my mother but we decided against it. We felt that it was too marginal financially - she could only just have afforded a Retirement Visa, which wouldn't have left any money in "the pot" for inflation in future years etc, so we felt that it would be too risky for us. Since then, the only option is now the subclass 405 Investor Retirement Visa, which Mum would not be able to afford on any level. Her income is not high enough and she does not have enough capital either.

 

Where the BoF Test is a stumbling block and Investor Retirement is not affordable, the only other option is to get the Parent a Student Visa. However whether that is a sensible option really depends on the age of the Parent and whether s/he really wants to become a student again, I reckon. There is no upper age limit with Student visas but my mother was too old in herself - she was 70 when my father died - and she was too disinclined to study anything at her age, so that meant that a Student visa would not have been a sensible option for my own mother but it may be a viable option for a parent who is younger and wouldn't mind being the oldest student on the campus etc!

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

 

hi gill,

shes our biological mum, i was wondering can she apply the 976 visa whilst she's here on 676 visa?, she is 72 and i think it will be awkward for her to go to school/uni ...

thanks:notworthy:

[Gollywobbler]

hi gill,

shes our biological mum, i was wondering can she apply the 976 visa whilst she's here on 676 visa?, she is 72 and i think it will be awkward for her to go to school/uni ...

thanks:notworthy:

 

Hi Janey

 

Thanks for this. I tried to reply the other night but I was so tired that my thoughts were not coming out in a straight line, so I abandoned the attempt!

 

Right - I'm feeling livelier this evening!

 

I agree with you that a Student visa probably isn't a viable option for your Mum. We reached the same conclusion about my own mother when she was about the same age as your Mum.

 

In the rest of your post above, I suspect that you have muddled up the visa subclass numbers? What you are saying is that Mum currently has a sc 676 long-stay Tourist visa but she wants to swap it for a sc 976 short-stay Visitor visa. That doesn't make sense. Why would she want to do this? (She can't apply for a sc 976 whilst her feet are on Aussie soil - she would have to visit NZ or similar if she really wants a sc 976 visa but I think this is academic because I doubt that it is what she wants.)

 

I think you probably mean that she has a sc 976 short-stay Visitor visa at the moment and that you want to extend her stay in Oz by swapping her over onto a sc 676 long-stay Tourist visa and you want to know whether she can do this without having to leave Oz. I think this is what you mean, but please check the DIAC website and confirm:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/visa-options.htm'>http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/visa-options.htm

 

Yes, she can swap from a sc 976 to an sc 676 and she can do so without leaving Oz:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/

 

That said, personally I would ignore DIAC's prompt about the e-676 option. DIAC encourage the e-676 because the application gets processed by the Global Processing Centre - the HQ for which is in Hobart. If the computer can't do the whole thing on its own then a human in Hobart gets involved. This is the cheapest option for DIAC, certainly, but I personally would not consider it to be a good enough option for my mother.

 

If it were my mother, I'd make a normal sc 676 application on paper, using Form 48:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/apply-person.htm

 

God knows what Form 601 is about but print it and complete that as well, I suggest, using black ink because blue doesn't always show up when the document is scanned into the DIAC computer. All paper applications are now scanned into the DIAC computer but that is not your own primary concern.

 

Having completed a paper application and having assembled all the supporting documents for it - as shown in the checklist for the visa - I would take the paperwork and your Mum to see DIAC in person (Currie St, Adelaide) and deal with the application over the counter in the old-fashioned way.

 

Ideally, you want to chat with the DIAC officer in Currie St because you probably want DIAC to allow Mum to remain in Oz for a further period of 12 unbroken months. There is no reason why DIAC should not permit this. They can protect themselves by imposing Condition 8503 (No Further Stay) which would allow Mum a further 12 months in Oz but no longer than that. The effect of Condition 8503 is that she would have to leave Oz when the sc 676 visa expires and then if she wants to make another long visit to Oz she would have to make a new application from somewhere offshore.

 

If DIAC try to say that Mum would have to undergo a medical if she stays for 12 months, I would insist on them printing out and showing me the wording in the PAMs that says this. (The PAMs are the policy documents.) According to the London AHC website, Mum would not have to bother about a medical because she is not yet 75:

 

http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/health.html

 

The Aussie Government worries that they might give an elderly person a long-stay Tourist visa but that the person will become ill or infirm during their 12 months in Oz, meaning that the person would be too ill or too frail to leave Oz when the Tourist visa expires. The doctors in Oz worry about the patient's health and they don't give a fig for the problems that the Suits in the Immigration Deparment might encounter as a result.

 

If a doctor says that the person is too ill/infirm to leave Oz by air then no airline will agree to remove the person by air and no shipping company will do so by sea. So the Aussie Govt becomes stuck and apparently there are loads of elderly foreigners who are languishing in Oz for this reason. Condition 8503 is the least of anyone's worries if the visa holder is unwell.

 

So because of the potential problem outlined above, it could be that DIAC's policy would be to insist on a medical when the sc 676 applicant is in Oz. However your situation wouldn't be something that happens in Currie St every day, so if they say that Mum would need a medical, I would insist on a print-out of the relevant section of the PAMs, to make sure that the DIAC officer is actually right about this rather than guessing.

 

What they might do instead is to say that she can stay for a further 6 months but no longer. If that is what they say then wait until they have granted the visa. Once it has been granted, you will be sent a letter and there will probably be a visa label in the passport.

 

You will need to check the visa details carefully. In this scenario, DIAC often limit the period of stay to six months at a time but the visa is valid for multiple entry. In that situation, you would take/send Mum to somewhere like Fiji for a short holiday (7-10 days) just before the initial six month period expires. When she returns to Oz after this holiday she would automatically be permitted to stay in Oz for a further 6 months. DIAC do this because somebody who is well enough to go abroad for a short holiday is well enough to leave Australia. They might not be well enough for a long flight back to Blighty but that is not DIAC's problem.

 

Personally, I would have every confidence that the staff in the local DIAC office would be able to deal with this properly. My sister had excellent service from them in Perth with my own mother.

 

I would have zero confidence in the idea that the computer or the person in Hobart would be able to deal with this properly. Therefore if it were my mother, I'd spend some extra money in order to make an in person application on paper, so that you have a chance to talk to the DIAC officer face-to-face etc.

 

Please shout if this reply is still muddled. I think it is OK and it is certainly much better than the muddled reply I started on the other night before I gave up, but the important question is whether it is clear enough for you as well.

 

Cheers

 

Gill