All who apply for a parent visa – whether contributory or non-contributory – must meet a balance of family test before the visa is granted.

The balance of family test requires the visa applicant to have:

• At least half of their children lawfully and permanently resident in Australia (including what are called “eligible New Zealand citizens” who are usually resident in Australia), OR
• More children permanently resident in Australia (including eligible New Zealand citizens who are usually resident in Australia) than in any other single county.

Department of Immigration policy indicates that it will count all natural, adopted and step-children of:

• The applicant
• The applicant’s current partner (including de facto partner)

If a parent visa application was lodged on or after the 1st of July, 2011 adult step children from a former relationship are not counted.

Children are not counted in the balance of family test if they:

• Are deceased
• Are removed from their parents’ legal custody by adoption or court order
• Are registered by the UNHCR as refugees and live in a camp operated by the UNHCR
• Live in a country where they suffer persecution or human rights abuse and cannot be reunited with their parents in another country.

Children who are outside Australia are considered to be residents of the country other than Australia where they usually live.

Children who are in Australia on a temporary basis are considered to be residents of the country where they previously lived before traveling to Australia. If the child has no legal right to return to that country, they are taken to reside in their country of citizenship.

Children whose whereabouts are unknown, or cannot be verified, are considered to be residents of their last known country of usual residence.

The Department of Immigration has a useful table on its website that sets out various permutations and considers whether the balance of family test has been satisfied.

At the time of writing this article the Department of Immigration’s website advises that ” … there can be long waiting times of up to 30 years before this visa is approved.”

We take issue with that statement, because so far as we are aware – and we have been looking after parent visa applications for many years – no subclass 804 visa application has ever taken 30 years to be processed to a decision.

While we acknowledge there are a limited number of visas available – 1,550 are available for the current program year under subclasses 103 and 804 – the Department of Immigration’s online queue calculator does not support such a long waiting time.

For example, an application for a subclass 804 visa with a queue date of 22 July 2015 has approximately 4,530 persons ahead of it in the queue. We do not see this as equating to a 30 year processing timeline.

More Details
At the present time the Department of Immigration’s Parents Visa Centre is processing to a decision subclass 804 visa applications with a queue date in November 2008.

The PVC is presently assessing applications lodged in November 2014 with a view to issuing a queue date.

Here are a few examples from our subclass 804 Aged Parent visa client list:

> Application lodged Sept 2013; medicals and police clearances requested Nov 2014; queue date Jan 2015

> Application lodged Dec 2013; medicals and police clearances requested Feb 2015; queue date July 2015

> Application lodged May 2014; medicals and police clearances requested May 2015; queue date June 2015

> Application lodged Sept 2014; medicals and police clearances requested June 2015; queue date July 2015

Remember that the time between the request for medicals and police clearances and the issuing of a queue date will depend on the time it takes the visa applicant to arrange the details requested. The quicker these are arranged the earlier will be the queue date, and hence the sooner the visa application will be assessed in due course.

The processing times for the older style Parent (including the subclass 804 Aged Parent) visa applications and the Contributory Parent visas vary significantly.

For example, at one end of the scale Contributory Aged Parent visa applications (subclass 864) are presently being processed to a decision in some 4 to 6 months.

By contrast current day applicants for the Parent and Aged Parent visas are looking at a processing time of some 10 years or more – the Department of Immigration quotes some 30 years on its auto response email (see below for details), but this is subject to a number of variables, including mortality rates, and political imperatives over the next couple of decades. For example, a future Minister might be more favourably inclined towards subclass 103 and 804 applicants who are in the queue.

To quote an old adage, you have to buy a ticket in the raffle to have a chance of winning a prize.

If you would like to see what applications are presently being processed at the Department of Immigration’s Parent Visa Centre you can:

• Send a blank email to the Parent Visa Centre (no subject line required) here
• Look at the Parent Visa Tracker website to see what is happening to other applications of a similar type

The Visa Application Charge payable to the Department of Immigration when lodging a visa application under the following subclasses is increasing from the 1st of July, 2015, as follows:

> Parent, subclass 103 – to A$3,870 for the main applicant; A$1,935 for a secondary applicant aged 18 or over

> Aged Parent, subclass 804 – to A$3,870 for the main applicant; A$1,935 for a secondary applicant aged 18 or over

> Contributory Parent, subclass 143 (no previous subclass 173 visa) – to A$3,695 for the main applicant; A$1,245 for a secondary applicant aged 18 or over

> Contributory Aged Parent, subclass 864 (no previous subclass 884 visa) – to A$3,695 for the main applicant; A$1,845 for a secondary applicant aged 18 or over

There have been no changes to the 2nd Visa Application Charges in this round of increases to VACs.

This is another question that we are being asked frequently: can an applicant for a subclass 804 Aged Parent visa depart Australia (for example to regularise their affairs overseas – such as selling a house) and return to Australia.

A Bridging Visa A (“BVA”) is issued to valid applicants for a subclass 804 visa. The BVA allows the holder to remain lawfully in Australia while the onshore visa application is being processed, and for a further period of at least 28 days following an adverse decision on the visa application.

A BVA does not provide for entry to Australia.

2 circumstances might arise:

> A visitor visa – such as an ETA or an eVisitor – might have been used for the entry to Australia. These visas often allow for multiple entry over the validity period of the visa. For example 3 month maximum stay on any one visit to Australia over a period of 12 months from the date of grant.

So long as the visitor visa remains valid the same visa can be used to re-enter Australia.

It is though prudent to ensure that the BVA remains in issue upon a return to Australia, as the act of departing and returning can cause the original BVA to be cancelled.

We find that an email exchange with the Parents Visa Centre achieves the desired level of comfort.

> If there is no valid visitor visa and a BVA is held an application should be made for a Bridging Visa B, or BVB.

This is a separate application to the Department of Immigration, for a which a relatively notional charge is payable (A$140 at the time of writing).

Application for the granting of a BVB is made to the Department on form 1005 or 1006.

Applicants must have a “substantial” reason for leaving and re-entering Australia.

Department of Immigration policy advises that: ” … a substantial reason for wishing to travel would include travel associated with the person’s:

The above examples are given as a guide to the types of reasons that could be considered and are not exhaustive. Officers must use their judgment when deciding if they are satisfied that the person’s reasons for wishing to travel are substantial and document the reasons for their decision.”

The validity period of a BVB will depend on what has been requested by the applicant. Policy guidance requires that case officers assess whether the requested period ” … is consistent with the person’s circumstances, in particular that the period of absence from Australia does not exceed the expected remaining processing time for the substantive visa application.”

We have heard of subclass 804 visa applicants being granted BVBs with a return date of 2 years from grant, but this should not be relied upon – each case will be considered on its merits.