This is a note to those who are intending to apply for subclass 804 Aged Parent and subclass 103 Parent visas: we think it is prudent to lodge your visa application sooner rather than later.

The Productivity Commission has reported to the Australian Government, and has suggested that the criteria for granting non contributory parent visas should be narrowed to cases where there are “strong compassionate grounds”.

The Productivity Commission report also said that elderly parents cost Australia anywhere between A$335,000 to A$410,000 each.

The Productivity Commission is an independent Commonwealth agency which is the Australian Government’s principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation.

Those of us who advise parents on visa strategy will recall the abolition of the subclass 103 and 804 visas to new applicants by the Federal Government in mid-2014, only for a successful Disallowance Motion in the Upper House (the Senate) to lead to the re-introduction of these visa subclasses to new applicants in September 2014.

At a time when budget savings are a key issue for the Federal Government there is clearly a real risk of a renewed effort to close off the non Contributory Parent visa pathways.

We invite concerned intending parent visa applicants to contact Go Matilda Visas to discuss strategy: we can prepare and submit parent visa applications quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

The rates of surcharges when paying the Department of Immigration’s Visa Application Charges have been reduced.

With immediate effect the rates are:

• Visa and MasterCard – 0.98% (was 1.08%)
• American Express and JCB – 1.4% (1.99%)
• Diners Club International – 1.99% (2.91%)

The Australian Government has confirmed the number of non Contributory Parent visas available for the year to the 30th of June, 2017.

The maximum total number of visas that can be granted for the year to 30th June 2017 under subclasses 103 (Parent) and 804 (Aged Parent) will be 1,550.

This is the same number of visas as was permitted for the previous year.

The Legislative Instrument giving effect to this is here.

In an earlier post we looked at the balance of family test, which is a requirement to be met by those applying for a parent visa.

The technical requirement is that a parent will meet the balance of family test if at least half of the parent’s children and step-children are “eligible children” or there are more “eligible children” than children living in any other single country.

The Migration Regulations define an eligible child as a child of the parent who is:

• An Australian citizen, or
• A permanent resident usually resident in Australia, or
• An eligible New Zealand citizen usually resident in Australia

Importantly, there is no requirement that an Australian citizen has to be usually resident in Australia.

This means that an intending applicant for a parent visa who has an Australian citizen child residing in (say) the UK, and who has no other children will meet the balance of family test.

If we could roll the clock back into early 2009 a cost reduction strategy commonly adopted by applicants for a subclass 143 Contributory Parent visa was for one parent to apply for the subclass 143 visa, and for that individual to sponsor his or her partner/spouse for a partner visa once the 143 visa was granted.

The cost of applying for a partner visa was tens of ‘000’s of $’s cheaper, meaning this strategy was worth considering by many.

The position has since changed: a person who has been granted a Contributory Parent category visa on or after the 1st of July, 2009 is now unable to sponsor a partner or prospective marriage visa applicant until at least five years have passed since they were granted their visa, if they were in a married or de facto relationship with that person on or before the date they were granted the last Contributory Parent category visa.

There are some exceptions to this limitation in compelling circumstances.

Couples who are challenged financially by the cost of a Contributory Parent visa may therefore want to consider a two step (subclass 173/143, or 884/864) strategy, or a non Contributory Parent visa strategy.

Intending parent visa applicants who would like to discuss their options in a free initial discussion should feel able to complete the enquiry form on the right of this page.