The Immigration Minister has recently announced the start dates for the new five-year sponsored parent visa.
How soon can I apply to sponsor?
- Start date is 17th April 2019 for sponsorships
- Start date is 1st July 2019 for visa applications
- Up to 15,000 per year will be granted
- The Balance of Family requirement does not need to be met
- The sponsorship application must be approved prior to the visa application being submitted
Sponsor Eligibility:
Sponsors must meet a number of criteria, which includes for following:
- The parent(s) to be sponsored must be the biological, adoptive, or step-parent of the sponsor. Special rules apply to step-parents
- Be at least 18 years of age
- The sponsor must be an Australian citizen/permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who has been mostly resident in Australia for the past four years
- The sponsor must have a certain amount of household income
- The sponsor and the parents to be sponsored must provide police clearances for any country they have spent more than 12 months cumulatively in during the past 10 years
- The sponsor must be willing to share character information with the visa applicant
- Sponsors must also agree to comply with certain sponsorship obligations in relation to the parent(s) they are sponsoring.
How soon can I apply for the visa?
- Start date is intended to be 1st July 2019
Visa Eligibility
- Unlike permanent Parent visas, there is no Balance of Family Test requirement for this visa, meaning a visa applicant is not required to have more than half of their children residing in Australia.
Visa applicants must be able to meet a number of criteria including:
- Be sponsored by a person who is an approved parent sponsor
- Be at least 18 years of age
- Be outside of Australia at the time of application
- Provide evidence of access to funds
- Provide evidence of health insurance
- Satisfy health, character, and national security requirements
Fees
- The sponsorship application fee: $420
- The visa application charge: $5,000 for a 3 year visa
- The visa application charge: $10,000 for a 5 year visa
- Plus the cost of private health insurance
We suspect there will be mad rush for these visas, especially from parents with young children who prefer to leave their kiddies with grandparents rather than in day care.
If you want to find out more about this family friendly new visa, Book a consultation or give us a call +61 8 9429 8860.