johnbshepherd

We got our 804 visas in December 2013 - seven years after first application. The final medical (in Sydney) was much less daunting than we expected. I had stage 3 chronic kidney disease at the time and my wife had a minor stroke a few weeks before the medical. We both passed without problems. I was 74 at the time and my wife was 71. Looking at the records of the Migration Review Tribunal at http://www.aat.gov.au/migration-and-refugee-division it appears that very few people fail the final medical test. If you are going to fail on medical grounds you are far more likely to fail the medical when you first apply, than you are at the final stage.

I can confirm what beckdownunder says about reciprocal Medicare. Applicants for the 804 visa are eligible from the day that their application is acknowledged -you don't have to wait for a queue date. Simply take the acknowledgement letter to the local Medicare office. If they give you any trouble refer them to this extract from Hansard: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F1e9c200e-4362-461a-b69f-0149a53d40f8%2F0163%22 The relevant bit is section 9 of the question. Senator Michaela Cash asked (9) Does the eligibility for reciprocal Medicare benefits for parent visa applicants, whether on bridging visas or on 410 visas, apply to both the Parent (Migrant) Visa (Subclass 103) and the Aged Parent (Residence) Visa (Subclass 804).? The answer from Senator Ludwig who was then Minister for Health and Ageing was (9) Yes I certainly used this provision while I was waiting for the 804/

I was pleasantly surprised to find that, although you don't pay the second installment until you actually get the visa it is payable at the rate which was in force at the time you applied. In my case the second installment almost doubled between 2006 and 2013 but I still paid at the 2006 rate. The $5,000 bond, which we just got back, is still the same.

The fees look correct according to this https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa/Fees

Regarding the waiting time for the 804 visa the website still says that it is 25-30 years. I am fairly sure that this is a gross exaggeration with the intention of persuading people to apply for the contributory visa. The current situation is explained in this extract from the most recent reply from DIBP Begin quote ONSHORE APPLICANTS (Subclass 804) Once your application is allocated to a case officer (which may take up to 12 months) you or your authorised contact will be contacted and asked to provide more documents including police certificates and health clearances to complete your application. As soon as you are assessed as meeting all requirements your application will be placed in a queue and assigned a queue date to wait for a visa place. We are currently assessing for a queue date applications lodged up to 20 March 2015 We are currently assessing for finalization applications with a queue date up to July 2009 End quote This suggests that people who applied in about March 2008 are about to get their 804 visas. Total waiting time for them was a little more than eight years. I applied in September 2006 and actually got the visa in December 2013 so the waiting time hasn't changed much recently. Of course if your parents apply while they are legitimately in Australia, they can stay here until they get their 804's anyway. Hope this helps

This from the latest auto-reply from immi. I assume that this means that if your first application (for the 804) was in October 2013 you are about to get a queue date. If you already have a queue date in December 2008 you are about to be assessed for the visa itself. If the second assumption is correct then the 804 queue is still moving along nicely. Unfortunately the 103 queue still seems to be stuck. SUBCLASS 804 [TABLE=width: 312] [TR] [TD]Onshore Receipting 804[/TD] [TD] 05 Dec 2014[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Onshore Registering 804[/TD] [TD] 05 Dec 2014[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] 804 Assessing applications queued[/TD] [TD] Dec 2008[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] 804 Assessing for queue date[/TD] [TD] Oct 2013[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] For the 103 visa the figures are: PROCESSING TIMES FOR NON CONTRIBUTORY PARENT VISAS SUBCLASS 103 [TABLE=width: 427] [TR] [TD]Offshore receipting 103[/TD] [TD]08 Dec 2014[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Offshore Registering 103[/TD] [TD]22 May 2014[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]103 Assessing applications queued[/TD] [TD]May 2008[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]103 Assessing for a queue date[/TD] [TD]20 June 2013[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Cheers John

Just for general information the processing date for 103 and 804 applicants has finally moved forward after being stuck in April 2008 for several months. The latest auto reply from immi says "For your information, we are currently assessing for finalisation subclass 103 parent visa applications with a queue date from May 2008 and subclass 804 applications with a queue date from May 2008." Cheers John

Senator Hanson-Young's motion was actually passed by the senate this morning!!. This means that it is again possible to apply for the 103 and 804 visas. This situation may not last for very long. I believe that Alan Collett and Go Matilda have prepared for this eventuality so anyone hoping to get their parents to Australia at least cost would do well to contact him immediately. Cheers John

Further to my previous post on Senator Hanson-Young's motion, the senate did not reach that item on their agenda yesterday (Sept 24). They are expected to debate it at about 11:50 today (Thursday 25 Sept)

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of the Greens has lodged a motion in the Senate to disallow the legislation which suspended new applications for non-contributory Parent visas (103 and 804). It will be debated on September 24. I don't suppose there is much chance of the motion being passed but it is just possible that there will be a brief window when applications are re-opened. It may be advisable for interested people to have their documents ready just in case. Cheers John

Point noted. In future if you wish to"remind" people of something perhaps you could tell them about it in the first place.

Sorry, I didn't notice this bit. We (wife and I) first applied for the 804 visa in September 2006 and got a queue date of May 31 2007. I followed the queue date calculator regularly from then onwards and in July 2013 it claimed that there were still 880 people in front of us. The rate at the time was 550/year so we went to England on holiday thinking that we had at least a year to wait. In fact, they emailed me to say that we had reached the front of the queue on September 13 2013 while we were still in England. They gave me a deadline of thirty days to provide medical certificates, police clearance and AoS which for the 804 all had to be done in Australia. My case officer, was extremely efficient and cooperative and readily extended the deadline to run from the day I got back to Oz. After that it was a little over two months before I actually got the visa. Cheers John

For Mamarock, Ian103 and anyone else who is interested, I just discovered a useful fact. If you send an e-mail to (please PM for email) with no subject and no content you should get an automatic reply giving lots of information about the 103 timeline. I just did so and the reply included the following:- For your information, we are currently assessing for finalisation subclass 103 parent visa applications with a queue date from April 2008 and subclass 804 applications with a queue date from April 2008. From this it sounds as if Mamarock should hear something very soon and Ian within a year or so. Regards John

Hi Mamarock In previous years between 70% and 75% of the non-contributory parent visas have gone to the 103 visa with the remainder going to the 804. If this pattern is applied this year there will be around 1,000-1,100 103 visas handed out this year. If we accept the calculator figure of 1,700 in front of them they should reach the front of the queue sometime in 2015-16. However the calculator is very unreliable. For example, it still says that there are several hundred people in front of me in the 804 queue when I actually got the visa in December 2013!! With luck, I would expect your parents to reach the front of the queue within the 2014-15 immigration year which began on July 1. Incidentally, our final medical exam was much less fearsome than we expected. I took a look at the records of the Migration Review Tribunal and it seems that only a very small number of people fail the final medical. Good Luck Regards John

The crucial date is your parents' queue date. In January this year they were processing people with queue dates in December 2007. If your parents already have a queue date you can work out roughly when they will reach the front of the queue. The overall waiting time from first application to award of the visa has been about 7 - 8 years for the past few years (despite what immigration says). Unfortunately there are two complications. 1) Shortly after they handed out queue dates in 2007 they took an 'Administrative Decision' to stop handing out queue dates altogether. This threw the whole queue system into complete confusion. They resumed handing out queue dates sometime last year but they are taking a long time to work through the backlog of people who are in the pipeline but don't yet have queue dates. In effect there are now two queues. There is the real queue and the queue of people waiting for real queue dates - I hope that makes sense. 2) As you say, the number of non-contributory parent visas handed out each year has been reduced. I think that the 1500 which you mention is the combined number of 804 visas and 103 visas. If I am right I am afraid that the waiting time will be even longer. Regards

Gill was so right!!. All of the visas I mentioned have been killed with effect from June 2 2014 - i.e Monday morning. This means that it is too late to apply already. Cheers John

Just to make my previous post a little gloomier it looks as if the total allocation for non-contributory parents has been reduced from 2250 (2013-14) to 1500 (2014-15). This will almost certainly increase the waiting time for people already in the queues.

It has now been confirmed that the 804 visa will be closed to new applicants before the beginning of the next immigration year. The exact date of cessation will be announced 'shortly" http://www.immi.gov.au/Live/Pages/certain-family-visas-closure.aspx Some other visas will be closed as well. These are Parent visa (subclass 103) Aged Dependent Relative visa (subclasses 114 and 838) Remaining Relative visa (subclasses 115 and 835) Carer visa (subclasses 116 and 836). The only faint bright spots, as Alan Collett points out in the link above, are that applications already made will continue through the system and new applications may still be accepted until the cut-off date. Cheers

Looks like bad news for the 804 and 103 visas in the 2014 budget today. I quote "The Family Stream will refocus on meeting the increasing demand for close family reunions. The additional partner and child places will be made available as a result of the cessation of new applications from the other family and parent (non‑contributory) places. This cessation will also enable faster processing of existing applications." As I understand that it means that applicants who are already in the queue will get their visas more quickly but that new applications will no longer be accepted. Perhaps someone with greater knowledge than me could comment. Cheers

https://www.ecom.immi.gov.au/qcalc/QDateAnswer.do But beware!!! The calculator is very erratic at the moment. For the two main visas that people are interested in the last news was: 804 visa - processing reached people with queue dates in January 2008 but they may have used up the allocation for 2013-2014. Things should start to move again after the budget in July. 103 visa -processing had reached people with queue dates in December 2007 but again the allocation for this year may have been used up. For both visas the waiting time is very much less than stated on the immigration website but of course this may not last.

At the risk of boring people, the queue date calculator seems to be working again but the results still can't be trusted. As an example, we actually got the visa three months ago but the queue date calculator says that there are still 400 people in front of us in the queue. A cynic might think that they are deliberately exaggerating the waiting time for the 804 visa to encourage people to apply for the contributory visas instead. Further evidence for this comes from the immi.gov website at https://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/804.aspx Which was revised as recently as 25 Feb 2014. It still says that "There can be long waiting times of up to 13 years before this visa is approved." This statement is clearly untrue. The current waiting time for the 804 visa is a little over seven years and this has hardly changed for the last ten years or so. My advice for people still in the queue is to sit tight and take no notice of the calculator. You will reach the front of the queue about seven years after first applying for the visa. Regards JBS

Since the queue date calculator is still not working it may be useful for people to know that the parent centre is currently processing 804 applicants with queue dates in January 2008. For the 103 visa they have reached December 2007. Of course it now takes longer even to get a queue date than it did in 2007. Regards

Our 804 visas were finalized today. One pleasant surprise was that the final visa charge was at the rate which was current when we first applied seven years ago, not the current rate which is almost twice as much. Best Regards John

Just to update people and perhaps offer a little encouragement to people who are in the queue themselves (or have parents in the queue) it looks as if our 804 visa is about to be finalized. We have got over the last hurdle which was the medical exam - despite having the usual medical problems of people in their seventies. There is still a problem with a mix-up between Centrelink and Commonwealth Bank over our assurance of support but sorting this out should be a formality. We first applied for the visa in September 2006 so the total waiting time has been a little more than seven years. The final process started with a request for information on September 10 with a deadline of four weeks later. Because I was in England at the time the deadline was extended to October 30. In fact, I managed to beat the deadline and submitted the final information on October 22 so the final stage has taken almost exactly six weeks. The people from the Parent Centre in Perth were extremely efficient and cooperative throughout the process Many thanks to all who have provided moral support through this thread and particularly to Gill (Gollywobbler) who started the thread. If I can help anyone else who is going through the process please don't hesitate to ask. I don't claim to be an expert but I can at least tell you what has happened to me. Best Regards John Shepherd

Thanks all for the encouragement. So far the Parent Centre people have been very helpful and cooperative. There was no problem in getting an extension of the deadline until 30 days after I get back to Oz. Also I managed to get clarification of the following request “Provide Police certificates from any country where an applicant over 16 years of age (including spouse/dependent who is not migrating) has spent 60 days or more (in total) in the last 10 years visiting or living in that country" Anyone who has been in the queue for less than 10 years probably spent several years in some other country within the past 10 years (probably the UK for most people on this thread). As it stands that request means that you must get new police certificates even if you provided them when you first applied. At my request, the parent centre agreed that we don't have to provide new certificates if we provided satisfactory ones when we first applied and haven't spent 60 days in the other country since then. A trivial point for most people but important in my case since I was working in an obscure part of the world immediately before I came to Oz and police certificates take for ever to get. Back to Sydney this weekend and down to the serious stuff. Cheers John