Highlights
- The Department of Home Affairs applies a thorough scrutiny when assessing partner visa applications to make sure the relationship is genuine.
- Bringing parents to Australia, first applicants should satisfy the balance of family test. Half of their children must be Australian citizens or permanent resident.
- In child migration, most cases dependent children can be included in their parents’ visa application. However, if the child of the partner visa applicants is overseas, applicants have 3 permanent options depending on the relationship between the child and the sponsor: child visa, orphan relative visa, and adoption visa.
The 2021-22 Migration Program planning level is set at 160,000 visa places, with approximately half reserved for the Family Stream. Out of the 77,300 visas available under the Family Stream, 72,300 are allocated for partner visas, 4,500 for parent, and 500 for other family stream visas. Principal Solicitor at Visa Plan, James Bae, says an applicant may qualify for a partner stream visa if they are either married or in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
"The cost is roughly $7,800 for partner visa applications; if you want to add a health check, that's another $300. And also, depending on how many countries you have resided in, you have to arrange police checks to be issued. Generally speaking, from the day of initial application to grant of the permanent residency, we see roughly around three to four years. And the reason, I guess, for the large duration of processing time is because the department wants to ensure that the relationship doesn't break down, and the relationship is genuine, and the relationship is continuing,"said Mr. Bae.
“You need to have a particular relationship with the child, which is that you are either child’s adoptive parent, that a child is an orphan and you are relative of a child, or the child is your natural child. So, if a child is a stepchild, there is a different process which is that you would need to get a mother the permanent residency first, or if the mother has permanent residency and for some reason the child wasn’t included in that permanent residency application, and that’s actually the most common scenario where you would apply for child visa."
