New Visa To Bring Your Parents To Australia

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New Visa To Bring Your Parents To Australia

A new Parent Visa option is opening for eligible Australian citizens or permanent residents to bring their parents to Australia temporarily for up to ten years. The new visa will however be capped to only 15,000 people per year. Read on to discover more and find out if you could be eligible to sponsor your parents.

Written by Sheila Woods of Interstaff 19 March 2019

Australia’s new Temporary Parent Visa

Parents coming to Australia under the new Subclass 870 Visa option will be able to stay for five years without departing, which is a significantly longer period than if they were to arrive on a Visitor Visa. After this time, they can choose to re-apply for another five years, for a total maximum stay of ten years.

A few main features of the Subclass 870 Temporary Parent Visa include:

Limitations preventing parents from working in Australia
Requirements for evidence of access to funds
Requirements for health insurance
‘Balance of Family Test’ (BoF) not required (A Balance of Family test assesses the proportion of your children living permanently in Australia and is an eligibility requirement for all other Parent Visas.)

The new Parent Visa will require two applications – a Sponsorship application and a Visa application. The visa application can only be lodged once the sponsorship application has been approved. Once the applications have been granted, a number of sponsorship obligations and visa conditions will apply.

How the new Temporary Parent Visa contrasts with Permanent Parent Visa options

While the Subclass 870 Parent Visa only allows for a temporary five or ten year stay, it could provide migrants a long-term visa alternative to Australia’s current permanent Parent visa options, which typically require either lengthy waiting times or very high Government costs.

To help you consider if the new option is one you’d like to explore, compare the new Temporary Parent Visa’s fees and expected waiting periods against Australia’s current permanent residence visa options.

Am I eligible to sponsor my parents?

There are a number of factors influencing both your ability to become an approved sponsor as well as your parents’ eligibility for Australia’s various Parent Visa options. Some of these factors include:

The visa holders’ ability to meet health and character requirements
The sponsor’s household income
Evidence of access to funds for the duration of the visa
Evidence of health insurance
Whether there are any outstanding debts to the Australian Government and other eligibility factors

We expect the Department of Home Affairs will announce the supporting legislative regulations for the visa in coming months. As the visa will be capped to 15,000 people, you may wish to consider applying without delay. The Department will begin accepting sponsorship applications for the Subclass 807 Parent Visa from 17 April 2019 and applications for the visa are intended to open from 1 July 2019.

Interstaff assist people all over the world with the legal and professional process to travel or migrate to Australia for temporary work or permanent residence. Established in 1988, Interstaff has been trusted by migrating individuals and businesses for over 30 years and are the strongest group of experts for visa work in Australia. MARN: 0533879.

Moving Abroad Checklist

Initial Considerations

Will your partner be travelling with you?

If so, what will they be giving up in your present home and will they be able to continue with their career in your new home? You will need to check whether a separate visa is required for your partner to work or if your visa gives that right. If they are unable to work you will need to decide on the effect on your finances and what alternatives are available to give a fulfilling life (home business, training, voluntary work).

Are you taking family with you?

Moving with family raises many exciting opportunities, but also can create challenges. The HSBC Expat Explorer survey indicates that expat kids can take six months to settle in to their new country (see article). Getting young or even older children to prepare to move and leave their friends and family behind can be a challenge and should be thought through.

The options for education is another area that needs to be thought through.

Moving your child to a new country with a different education system can be a great opportunity to broaden their experience, but if they are close to key exams the timing can make this inadvisable. If you do take your family with you, it is important to decide between joining the local school system or choosing an international school.

Where will you be living?

Whether you will be living in a house or apartment, furnished or unfurnished, these decisions will affect what you need to take with you. The time you are planning to live overseas will also affect whether you should leave your property at home empty, rent it out or sell it. See the article Sell, Store or Ship.