Cheap Parent Visas Part I

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

Sorry about the catchy title, but I think this thread may be of interest to Parents who are considering migrating to SA and to their children who are in or are headed for SA. I am reluctant to suggest it for any other State because SA is the only State where I know anybody who has looked in to it carefully.

 

My friend Mary lives in Adelaide. Her parents have recently returned from 6 months there. Apart from e-mails between myself and Mary, I have done some sleuthing of my own plus I had a long chat with Mary's Dad yesterday. He is undoubtedly clued up.

 

Distilling the feedback from various sources, the story is as follows.

 

Mary's Parents are "Aged" as per the following link:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/aged/804/index.htm

 

Applications for onshore Aged Parent and Contributory Aged Parent visas at not processed at the POPC (Perth Offshore Parents Centre.) Instead they are processed at the ordinary general DIAC office in the relevant State.

 

Mary's Dad recently went to the DIAC office in Adelaide to enquire about Parent visas for himself and his wife. First they described the offshore Contributory Parent visa. He said he was reluctant to shell out approx £40,000 GBP. Hearing this, they advised that the couple should wait till they are ready to return to Adelaide, return there using 90-day ETA visas and then go to the DIAC office again once they arrive.

 

The advice Mary's Dad received was to apply for the onshore Aged Parent subclass 804 visa on their return to Adelaide.

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/aged/804/index.htm

 

At present, this visa takes about 15 years (sic) to be processed because only 300 are available each year and there are about 5,000 Aged Parent applicants sitting in Australia on Bridging Visas waiting for them. However, on 1st July 2008 this will be doubled to 600 a year, halving the waiting time.

 

Compared to the cost of a Contributory Parent or Contributory Aged Parent visa, the cost of an Aged Parent visa is trivial:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i/parent.htm

 

Additionally the Assurance of Support required for it only lasts for two years instead of 10, and the Bond is $7,000 for a couple instead of $14,000.

 

An application for an AP visa is automatically also an application for a Bridging Visa A:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1024i.pdf

 

Two aspects of Bridging Visas for Parents worried me initially, though not any more.

 

The first concern is that Form 1024i states that an applicant for a Parent visa will not be entitled to Medicare. Fed up with not knowing whether the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement between Oz and the UK would reverse the assertion in Form 1024i, I e-mailed both Medicare and DIAC about this last week.

 

Both of them have confirmed to me that as a matter of Policy, a British Parent is indeed covered by the UK/Oz RHCA whilst on a Bridging Visa to the same extent as if s/he were on a tourist visa instead. The RHCA is available regardless of one's age:

 

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/index.jsp

 

Unless a doctor decides that the propsed treatment is "necessary" Medicare will not pay for any of it. Ambulance insurance is required whatever happens.

 

My other concern is that a Bridging Visa A does not entitle the Parent to return to Oz if s/he goes abroad for any reason. For that, a Bridging Visa B is needed instead and it must be obtained before the Parent leaves Oz. According to Form 1024i, "substantial reasons" are needed before a Bridging Visa B would be forthcoming.

 

According to me, a desire for a family holiday offshore is not a substantial reason, but according to DIAC in Adelaide it is. They say their Policy is that it is not the Aged Parent's fault that AP visas take some years to process. Therefore they are happy to grant a Bridging Visa B and say that this will enable the Parent to spend up to 90 days a year outside Australia if wished. They are not interested in why the Parent might wish to spend time outside Oz. They merely stress that the period outside Oz must not exceed 90 days a year.

 

As luck would have it, Mary's family happened to meet another British couple recently who are in their early 70s. The other couple have applied for Aged Parent visas and are living in Adelaide on Bridging Visas. (Until they were encountered, I was urging caution unless and until somebody could be found locally who is actually in this very situation. I tried to find someone via a thread on here a couple of months ago but drew a blank.)

 

The other couple have decided on private medical insurance for themselves so they are not bothered about the Medicare cover available to them.

 

The other couple have property in South Africa and a child in the UK. Every year, they spend 90 days outside Australia. They go to South Africa, then come to the UK to visit their other child, then back to Adelaide. It suits them to be outside Oz for the three months of winter in Oz so this is what they do.

 

Mary's Dad is thorough. Hearing all this from the other couple, he went back to DIAC in Adelaide to ask why anybody would pay for a CPV if DIAC are as liberal as described above? He was told that the reason why Parents are willing to pay for CPVs is because they want fast processing and certainty. Some Parents consider that these considerations are worth £40K GBP. Other Parents consider that hanging on to their capital is a more compelling idea!

 

Aged Parent visas involve 2 sets of Meds and Police checks. The first set are done within about a year of the visa application being made. The second set are required some years later when the Parent reaches the head of the Queue.

 

Asked what would happen if Mary's Dad or his wife should fail the second meds, DIAC assured him that there would be no question of them being kicked out of Australia.

 

Which is true. If one of the Parents fails the second meds, the drill is to Appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal and insist that the Review Medical Officer re-assesses the meds from scratch. New or additional medical info can be supplied to the RMOC and it will be considered. THe reported MRT cases reveal that the RMOC disagrees with the original MOC surprisingly often.

 

If the RMOC advises that the medical criteria for migration are met, the MRT must remit the application back to DIAC with an Order that the medical criteria are met. In practice there will be no other issues because the 2nd meds will not be requested if anything else about the application is faulty.

 

If the RMOC agrees with the opinion of the original MOC then the MRT must affirm DIAC's original visa refusal and dismiss the appeal. Currently the fixed fee to apply to the MRT is $1400 and approx another $600 to involve the RMOC. If the appeal is successful, the money is refunded. If the appeal is unsuccessful, $2000 is the maximum spent assuming that the family tackle the appeal without professional help - which they can do if they try.

 

If the MRT upholds the visa refusal, then as the legislation stands at the moment the next step is a direct appeal to the Minister for Immi under S351 of the Migration Act 1958. . The Minister can substitute his own decision for that of the MRT if he in his sole discretion considers that it is in the publc interest to do so.

 

The argument is that it is in the interests of the migrant child and grandchildren to permit the Aged Parents to remain with the rest of the family in Oz. Anything else would cause grave hardship to the migrant child, grandchildren etc It is not in the public interest to attract a skilled migrant so that s/he can strengthen the Australian economy (plus boost the Treasury's coffers) but then treat him/her differently from a native-born Aussie whose own Parents are in Oz as of right. Etc etc etc.

 

The results of Ministerial Appeals are not published, but if a Parent is elderly and infirm Australia is very unlikely to try to send him/her back to the UK. By then, s/he has been in Oz for so long that s/he has no real ties left in the UK, plus see above etc etc.

 

An Appeal to the MRT can easily take 2 years to be concluded. Ministerial Appeals are equally slow. The Bridging Visa enables the Parent to remain in Australia throughout the Appeals process.

 

If s/he was too sick to pass the meds 4 years ago, the chances are that s/he will be much worse (or dead) by the time a Ministerial Appeal fails. If the Parent is too ill to travel, no airline or shipping company will agree to carry him/her out of Oz.

 

Kismet. A Bridging Visa P (the medical one) will have to be granted to both Parents because the fit one must be on hand to look after the sick one. Hence Mary's Dad was assured that, one way or another, they would not be kicked out of Australia.

 

Entering Oz on a 90-day ETA with this scheme in mind is, technically, spoodly. A 90-day ETA cannot be granted unless the applicant evinces an intention to enter Australia for the purpose of short-stay tourism only. However, the onus is on DIAC to police the borders. It is not realistic for them to give every person travelling through Adelaide Airport a hard time and in practice they don't. Unless they grill the arriving passenger, they have no means of proving intent and they know this so they do not try to take a point that they coud not win in Court. The Parent goes to Oz intending nothing but a short visit. Whilst there, he wanders along to the DIAC office to make enquiries. They tell him that he is eligible for an Aged Parent visa as it happens....

 

Food for thought, maybe?

 

I think that if anybody wants to investigate this further, you should double-check everything I say. This can be done by visiting the DIAC office in Adelaide and I would strongly recommend doing so in person:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/australia/sa-adelaide.htm

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Guest Django]

Once again Gill my ghast has been flabbered!!!! :notworthy:

 

This is very interesting as Tracey's mum may well want to follow us out and this looks like a fabby option for her. I shall begin looking into this.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time.

 

Pete

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Pete

 

From what I can remember of your own circumstances, you might be under the impression that it will be necessary for Tracey to have lived in Oz for two years before Parent migration might become possible for her mother.

 

This is not necessarily so. Please see the article below, written recently by Alan Collett of Go Matilda. Please read the two MRT cases that he cites and then apply common sense.

 

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=441

 

My mother has a Contributory Parent visa, hence I am committed to trying to help other people to enable their own beloved Parents to follow my Mum.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Guest Trakki]

Thanks Gill, I will let my mum know all this so she can have a good read and do some research.

 

Thanks again

[Guest katsmajic]

Thanks Gill, this info is fab.

I would love for my mum to be able to move over tomorrow!

Shes coming over in 2 weeks for a holiday, to check were ok etc - like mums do...and to see how she likes it.

I understand she can only pop over on holidays until we had been here for 2 years, but i se its going to be easier than i thought.

My mums only 55, still working, owns her own house etc and is happy to pay for the CPV.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Katsmajic

You will not necessarily have to wait till you have lived in Oz for two years before your mother can apply for Parent migration.

The issue here is whether or not the prospective Sponsor’s lifestyle in Oz has become “settled.” That is a question of fact, not a question of how much time has elapsed since arrival in Oz. Some new migrants settle into Oz and their lifestyles become regular and well-established very quickly. Another migrant might choose to spend five years hitchhiking round Australia with a tent before eventually settling down.

The reason why the Sponsor’s lifestyle needs to become “settled” before his/her Parent can apply for one of the Parent visas is because in theory the visa could be granted by the end of the same week. The Sponsor undertakes that if the Parent falls on hard times during the Parent’s first two years in Australia, the Sponsor will provide his/her Parent with an adequate home, food, clothing and enough cash to get by on so that the Parent will not be eligible to go cap in hand to Centrelink looking for social security assistance instead.

There have been a couple of recent Migration Review Tribunal decisions about this question. Please see the article below, written by Alan Collett of Go Matilda, and please also read the two MRT cases that he cites. Although Alan speaks of Contributory Parents and so do the two cases, all the material applies equally to a family considering an application for a Parent or Aged Parent visa insteadL

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=441

Meanwhile, have a great time with your Mum during her visit. My friend Mary’s Parents are in their early 70s and have joined a Seniors Club somewhere in Hallett Cove. This group meet up at a bowling club on a set day each week and apparently there are loads of other members of around the same age as themselves. They’ve formed really good friendships with some of the other couples. Mary’s parents bought themselves a small second hand car whilst they were there for six months so they have now had a good roam around the area, have been to visit their friends’ houses etc. Which is brilliant because they are now really excited and looking forward to the time when they can start their new lives out in Oz. Mary’s Mum says she pinches herself because she would never in her wildest dreams have imagined that she might one day move to Australia! I guess I can completely understand how she feels.

Best wishes

Gill

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

One thing DIAC can never be accused of is failing to fiddle with visa arrangements every five minutes!

 

First of all, with effect from 1st July 2008 all Parent Visas and Contributory Parent Visas, both the onshore and the offshore versions, have been moved to the POPC, so that the local DIAC offices will no longer deal with the applications for the onshore APVs and CAPVs.

 

For those who are interested in Parent migration, POPC stands for "Perth Offshore Parents Centre" and until 1st July 2008 the POPC dealt only with Offshore Parents, hence its name. Well - they are now the Perth Onshore & Offshore Parents Centre, so are they going to change their name to the POOPC? Poopsie doesn't sound any too promising phonetically, so I think changing the name to the PPC might be more dignified but no doubt senior Directors in Canberra are wrestling with this knotty problem!

 

In time, the local office in Adelaide will lose its current expertise with Aged Parent Visas simply because they won't have done any for a while. But for the next 2-3 years the Adelaide staff ought to be able to remember enough and even if not, the POPC are always very helpful with queries.

 

Seniors Card

 

As luck would have it, Mary's family happened to meet another British couple recently who are in their early 70s. The other couple have applied for Aged Parent visas and are living in Adelaide on Bridging Visas.

 

I've since heard another snippet about the above couple. Apparently they both have Seniors Cards even though they do not yet have Permanent Residency in Oz:

 

http://www.seniorscard.com.au/

 

Seemingly Seniors Card SA accepted that the couple have moved to Australia permanently, regardless of what their visas might say, and so they were given their Seniors Cards.

 

A Parent who has recently moved to South Australia first told me about Seniors Cards in a reponse on PiA earlier this year:

 

We have just discovered that we can also get seniors card's which entitle us to money off in shops, restaurants and cinema's, so every little helps.

 

I promptly PM'd the gentleman to pick his brains some more about Seniors Cards. Seemingly the lady in charge of issuing them in Adelaide knows a lot about Seniors Cards and she reckons that the perks which they offer in South Australia are more generous than elsewhere in Oz. He says anyone who wants to know more should contact the very helpful Seniors Card office in Adelaide.

 

More recently, I've been chatting with a lady who first moved to Oz as the child of Ten Pound Poms many years ago. She now has a Seniors Card and she says they are very good indeed and well worth getting.

 

One to bear in mind, perhaps?

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

Edited July 26, 2014 by snifter
email

[Guest Ellie]

Gill you are a star! I really needed this information and was directed to you by Django after a post I put on yesterday. Thank you so much!!!

[Guest tiggs]

oooh this is a fantastic thread ... thanks so much for that Gill it is just the info i have been going around in circles trying to find for days!

 

and thanks also to wendy who pointed me in the right direction for this

 

Adele x

[Les&Babs]

Well done Gill another very good post, makes me think that it may be worth taking out the aged visa against the CPV, you have to take out health Insurance to suppliment Medicare or pay a large levy which ever visa you go for.

Regards

Les & Babs

[minkyme29]

Gill,

 

I have read your post with huge interest and want to say a huge thank you to you for taking the time to share this information. I will be reading it again and again in the hopes that I can get my beloved Mum out here once we get permanent residency.

 

[Guest Lisajonesey]

Great post and definatley food for thought. Nice to see there are actually other options if you dig deep enough.

 

Lisa.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

It is over a year since I first posted this thread so it is time to update some of the information in it. In no particular order, here goes:

 

The visa is here:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/aged/804/

 

One Parent must be old enough to qualify for the visa and both Parents must be in Oz, not restricted by Condition 8503, at the time when the APV 804 application is made.

 

Condition 8503 is here:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/52bWaiving_Condition8503.htm

 

Do not be greedy when applying for the visitor visa is the answer. Plan a short visit only, use a short stay ETA or e-visitor visa and then see how Parent feels after s/he has reached Australia. It is perfectly legitimate to change one's mind about one's plans AFTER arrival in Oz. What usually happens in practice is that Parent is in the UK, dithering, so you have to get Parent out to Oz in order to have a proper discussion about what to do for the best.

 

**************************************************************

 

Waiting Times for the APV 804

 

DIAC's Report on the performance of the Migration Program for the year ended 30th June 2009 has now been published and is here:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/pdf/report-on-migration-program-2008-09.pdf

 

The Parent visa situation is described on pages 13 and 14.

 

Historically onshore applications for Aged Parent and Contributory Aged Parent applications were processed by the local DIAC office closest to where the Parent was living. They are now all processed by the Parents Visa Centre in Perth. (Popularly known as the PVC, which conjures images of old dears with interesting fetishes if you ask me. I dunno which joker failed to foresee this!)

 

As at 30th June 2009, 600 APV 804 visas are available each year and there were 4,852 applicants in the official Queue awaiting their visas. So once in the Queue the wait is then around 7-8 years.

 

Once Parents are in the Queue the wait is usually a bit shorter than the published figures suggest because some parents move out of the Queue and into applications for Contributory Aged Parent visas instead, others unfortunately become ill or die during the wait and so on.

 

The Queue

 

Additionally, a pecking order is applied at the point when the Parent is added to the Queue. Parents who have all their children in Oz and all the children are Australian Citizens get some priority for that. Parents who are elderly get preference over younger ones. Single Parents get priority over couples and so on. It is a waste of time to try to use the Queue calculator until the PVC have given you the official Queue Date because any date that you might guess at will be likely to produce a signifcantly inaccurate result.

 

Parents are not added to the Queue until after they have passed the first set of meds and pccs. The PVC make contact about 16 months after submission of the application in order to request these.

 

My instinct is to wait for about 12 months and then get the meds and pccs ready. I think it is worth anticipating the request when the Parent has lived in a country from which it is likely to take time to get a police check, or where a meds issue might crop up which is likely to require a visit to a specialist and so forth. If all that the CO has to do after 16 months is apply the pecking order (Ministerial Direction 42 I think it is) and then tell you the Queue Date, it will save a bit of time with getting into the Queue.

 

Don't be tempted to frontload too early though because that will not get Parent into the Queue any faster. If the meds and pccs have expired by the time a CO examines the file you will simply be told to do them again, which is a waste of both time and money.

 

ECHR Appeal on British State Pensions - 2nd Sept 2009

 

http://www.pension-parity-uk.com/

 

Tim Otty QC led the team representing the British Pensioners. His address to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR is here:

 

http://www.pension-parity-uk.com/newsletters

 

The decision is expected in March or April 2010. It is a slow process because 17 Judges are involved from at least 15 countries. The campaign has the full support of the Australian Government, following tjhe ECHR Judgement last year which helped British Pensioners in EU countries but excluded all the 525,000 or so British Pensioners (including my mother) who have moved to countries which are outside the EU and do not have reciprocal Social Security Agreements with the UK. Australia does not have a reciprocal SS agreement with the UK. Over half of the British Pensioners affected by this issue are believed to be in Australia.

 

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=479

 

Tim Otty QC has had a very distinguished career. He is one of the youngest ever to take silk when he did, some years ago now, and he is widely regarded as one of the best Human Rights lawyers there is. Fingers crossed that he has managed to convince enough members of the Grand Chamber to get a consensus in favour of the Pensioners.

 

The British Government has two central arguments:

 

1. We can't afford it; and

2. The Pensioners knew what the deal was before they left the UK.

 

The Telegraph argues that the Government can afford it:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/6062600/How-saving-the-pound-led-to-54-years-of-injustice.html

 

The second argument is specious. If the Government's stance has been unlawful then my mother cannot have given a valid and binding consent to an unlawful deal. She is will be 89 in a fortnight and she has no way of knowing whether it is lawful or not. Indeed she will not know that until the Grand Chamber decision is available in 2010.

 

This issue affects all British Pensioners in Australia or planning to move to Australia, regardless of which visa they hold or which one they are waiting for. The ever vigilant BERIA 410 Group, representing the holders of subclass 410 Retirement visas, is on the case:

 

http://www.webjam.com/barbaralassiter/beria

 

Private Medical Insurance for Temporary Residents in Australia

 

I don't understand the technical change in the legislation which has caused this, but there is one. The effect is that the premiums for private medical insurance in Oz for those who do not have Permanent Residency have soared in the last 18 months or so and Medibank has recently notified the Government that Medibank intends to apply to change its legal status from non-profit making to profit making, which I regard as an ominous signal.

 

This potentially affects all Parents who are either in Oz on Bridging Visas or who hold any sort of visitor visa, student visa or whatever. The only Parents who are not potentially affected by it are the ones who have obtained Permanent Residency in Oz.

 

BERIA 410 have negotiated some sort of Members' block policy with Medibank. Despite that the recent BERIA 410 article in The Oldie records that the premium for H&W who are over 65 now costs an average of about $6,000 a year despite the fact that Medibank will not pay for drugs such as Tamoxifen.

 

Another concern for the sc 410 visa holders is that they are not entitled to any Benefits from Centrelink or Medicare either. Consequently they are not eligible for places in State run Aged Care facilities in Oz unless they pay in full, out of their own pockets. Similarly they cannot get any help towards the cost of places in private Aged Care facilities. The same concern applies if an elderly, infirm British Parent is in Oz on a long term Bridging visa except to the extent that Medicare might help out under the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement(which is not available at all to those who applied for sc 410 visas after 1st December 1998.)

 

The Reciprocal Health Care Agreement???

 

Is here:

 

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/index.jsp

 

British APV 804 applicants who are in Oz on Bridging Visas or lengthy periods are not quite as badly off as Retirement visa holders because they should get some help from the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement above.

 

I questioned both DIAC and Medicare about this in June 2008. Both told me in writing that a British applicant for an APV 804 visa would be entitled to rely on the RHCA throughout the life of the Bridging Visas.

 

Earlier this year, though, a friend in Brisbane asked his local Medicare office about this when he was concerned about which visa his elderly, recently widowed father should apply for. He told me that Medicare had told him firmly that the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement would only be available for the first 3 years of the wait.

 

It was only his local Medicare office and he says the Medicare lady answered the question without blinking, straight off pat. I think there is a chance that she was guessing and that she might be mistaken.

 

However I have not asked Medicare again. Anybody who is researching this for real should please, please contact the central Medicare people via the contact details below:

 

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/migrants/visitors/uk.jsp

 

The description of the cover does not say anything about a 3 year limitation but I strongly recommend checking with Medicare all the same and I would be very glad if anyone who does contact them could please add to this thread.

 

As far as I know, no other updates are needed at present.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Admar72]

Hi all,

I am moving to Adelaide soon and my parents are thinking of the move as well. I looked into the different options available to them IE Apv /Cpv and with the cost of the Cpv i am looking into the fact of getting 676 visa which doesn't have Condition 8503 applied to this visa and then going for a onshore apv which then maybe granting a bridging visa. The question i ask is will my Dad,s criminal conviction from when he was 18 affect this visa my dad is now 63

Ant advice would greatly appreciated

Thanks Adam & Maria

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Adam & Maria

 

It depends on what the offence was, what the punishment was and whether Dad has been a reformed character ever since - which no doubt he has:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/character-requirements/

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/79character.htm

 

Anybody with a conviction for anything is NOT eligible for a 90-day suclass 976 visa or for a subclass 651 e-visitor visa. In Dad's situation he needs to apply for a subclass 676 visa instead, even if he wants to make only a short visit to Oz:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/

 

I'd suggest getting an up to date police check before applying for a sc 676. Send the application on paper to Australia House in London, using Form 48R because Dad is not eligible for e-visitor instead. Send the police check with it, a covering letter explaining exactly what happened and expressing remorse and a couple of character references would not go amiss.

 

DIAC are OK about past pecadilloes as long as no attempt is made to conceal them. Just the fact of making voluntary disclosure in a situation where they would not ask for a police check is evidence of reformed character etc etc so being scrupulously honest now will stand Dad in good stead later on.

 

They might impose Condition 8503 just to give themselves extra control of the situation but there is nothing you can do except put up with it if it happens. It would mean that an offshore CPV 143 would become the visa of choice but your Parents are considering that anyway so it would not be disastrous by any means.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest Admar72]

Hi Gill,

Thanks for your quick reply I will speck to my Dad and apply for police check.

Dad has not had any conviction since being a teen ,like you said there is always cpv but i would just like to let them have a bit of time in oz 1/2 years before they commit to the cpv maybe a long stay tourist visa is the right choice and then see how they fill

Thanks again

Kind regards Adam & Maria

[Guest tiggs]

thanks for the update Gill ... once again that is really useful info x

[Guest katsmajic]

Hi Gill (again)

 

Thanks for the additional information, we're going through the motions of getting my mum settled here at the mo.

Shes been here for 5mths, went back to UK, now just arrived back until Feb (woohoo) shes on a tourist visa at present.

Shes going back to UK in Feb and then looking at what the next step is, thinking of the temp cpv initially to give her a bit more freedom here/travelling and hopefully cos it'll be granted quicker than a cpv.

Obviously looking at upgrading to the cpv in the future.

Mums only 55 so cant go down aged parent route, and we'll have been here for 2 years next April.

 

Very daunting but also very exciting

[Guest katsmajic]

Hi Gill (again)

 

Thanks for the additional information, we're going through the motions of getting my mum settled here at the mo.

Shes been here for 5mths, went back to UK, now just arrived back until Feb (woohoo) shes on a tourist visa at present.

Shes going back to UK in Feb and then looking at what the next step is, thinking of the temp cpv initially to give her a bit more freedom here/travelling and hopefully cos it'll be granted quicker than a cpv.

Obviously looking at upgrading to the cpv in the future.

Mums only 55 so cant go down aged parent route, and we'll have been here for 2 years next April.

 

Very daunting but also very exciting

[Guest mimasawrus]

Hi,

 

I know that this an old post and I came across it completely by accident, but I really want my mum to come and live here, and reading this post has really got me thinking. I know we have to be here for two years before we can start the sponsorship process because we are here on a 475, but I think we will be classed as settled as Jon has a permenant job, both of our kids are in school and we have bought land and hope to commence, building our house shortly. We also have no assets left in the Uk, so here is definately home. My mum is on her own and I am her only surviving child she will be 69 years of age in April 2010 so when we are granted permanent residency she will be 70, so qualifies for the Aged parent visa. So if I am reading these posts correctly she could come over here for her normal regular stay and apply for her aged parent or contibutary aged parent visa, and then get a bridging visa to live here whilst it is being processed. It sounds very easy so have I got it right as if this is the case I am excited I hope you can confirm this for me

 

Thanks so much for any help you can give

 

Laurax:embarrassed:

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

For anyone who has missed the news, the ECHR Judgement was handed down last week and the British Pensioners LOST their appeal. My own mother is one of the 250,000 estimated losers living in Australia alone. There are about 525,000 losers world wide, it is thought.

 

There are about 360,000 winners who happen to live in the right parts of the world. Their pensions were index-linked by the first ECHR Judgement in October 2008 and they get the winter fuel allowance as well, apparently.

 

The Australian Government has made a formal Statement, supporting the losers in the recent Grand Chamber proceedings:

 

Breaking news on the issue of the pension freezing by the UK Government Release

 

The legal battle is over. There is no other court to appeal to.

 

I was in touch with the ICBP and with the BPiA last week. The organisers of both said that they intended to lick their wounds for a couple of weeks before deciding what else to do.

 

Give the Pensioners their due. I support the idea of swamping the DWP with alarming stories promising an imminent return en masse to the UK!

 

Give them a shock

 

They deserve a good fright in my view. If they get a fright then Gordon Brown gets a fright as well, which is even better imho.

 

To the stuff that the ICBP have suggested, I would also ask about sheltered housing in the UK, by the way (paid for by the Government via the local Housing Associations and Councils.) Paupers are entitled to Housing Benefit (rent) and Council Tax Benefit (rates) and all, by the way....

 

Also, if anyone is 65 or over and has the merest twinge of an ailment, it is worth mentioning Attendance Allowance as well, which is not means-tested in the UK:

 

Attendance Allowance - introduction : Directgov - Disabled people

 

Mum will be well & truly decrepit according to me.

 

She wouldn't dream of buying her own home in the UK again either, because the Government would snaffle that to meet the costs of residential care in the UK, so there is no chance of them getting any of that because capital can be left outside the UK.

 

Home page and reference site for the International Consortium of British Pensioners

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest katsmajic]

Thats a joke isnt it - good luck to all those expat parents - totally support the enmasse idea...that would really put the crappers up the uk government.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi,

 

I know that this an old post and I came across it completely by accident, but I really want my mum to come and live here, and reading this post has really got me thinking. I know we have to be here for two years before we can start the sponsorship process because we are here on a 475, but I think we will be classed as settled as Jon has a permenant job, both of our kids are in school and we have bought land and hope to commence, building our house shortly. We also have no assets left in the Uk, so here is definately home. My mum is on her own and I am her only surviving child she will be 69 years of age in April 2010 so when we are granted permanent residency she will be 70, so qualifies for the Aged parent visa. So if I am reading these posts correctly she could come over here for her normal regular stay and apply for her aged parent or contibutary aged parent visa, and then get a bridging visa to live here whilst it is being processed. It sounds very easy so have I got it right as if this is the case I am excited I hope you can confirm this for me

 

Thanks so much for any help you can give

 

Laurax:embarrassed:

 

Hi Laura

 

So if I am reading these posts correctly she could come over here for her normal regular stay and apply for her aged parent or contibutary aged parent visa, and then get a bridging visa to live here whilst it is being processed. It sounds very easy so have I got it right as if this is the case I am excited I hope you can confirm this for me

Yep. You are quite correct.

 

I know we have to be here for two years before we can start the sponsorship process because we are here on a 475, but I think we will be classed as settled as Jon has a permenant job, both of our kids are in school and we have bought land and hope to commence, building our house shortly. We also have no assets left in the Uk, so here is definately home.

You MUST have formal Permanent Residency before you could sponsor your Mum, but you could almost certainly sponsor Mum as soon as you have PR:

 

Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - News

 

Although Alan Collett of Go Matilda speaks of the Contributory Parent visa in his article above, the Sponsor must be *settled* and a Permanent Resident at the time of the application for the Parent visa, and this applies to every single Parent visa that there is.

 

Any local Registered Migration Agent will confirm to you that I am 100% right.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

I am worried sick. The proposed new Visa Capping Bill contains NO safeguards whatsoever to prevent either Taffy Evans (Grrrrrr ) or his succesessor as Minister for Immi from using the proposed new powers in order to attack the elderly and often very vulnerable people who have - in good faith - applied for Parent sc 103 or Aged Parent sc 804 visas.

 

I've written this elsewhere today:

Peter Mares and Mark Webster touched on the possibility that applications for Partner visas could be axed if the new Visa Capping Bill goes ahead.

 

Whilst I agree that it is theoretically possible, I don't think it is likely.

 

I want to speak up on behalf of non-contributory Parent visa applicants, please. Applicants for Contributory Parent visas are safe. They are cash cows and nobody is likely to kill a cash cow.

 

I have had an e-mail this morning from the Parents Visa Centre, confirming that the quotas of non-contributory Parent 103 and Aged Parent 804 visas have been halved for 2010-2011.

 

Minister Evans increased those quotas from 1,000 in total to 2,000 in total during his first nyear in Office in 2007-2008. He doubled the quotas to 2,000 for 2008-2009 and he held that in place for 2009-2010.

 

The total will be halved again for 2010-2011. 700 are to be earmarked for the applicants for the offshore Parent sc 103 visa. Some 15,500 Parents are waiting for those and, if the quota remains at 700 a year, those Parents are now looking at a wait of some 22 years.

 

I believe that applicants for the onshore Aged Parent 804 visas are in an even worse potential predicament. The quota for them has been reduced from 600 visas ayear to just 300 a year. I think there are about 5,500 applications in the pipeline for the subclass 804 visas.

 

If a couple, one of the applicnts has to be 65 or near enugh before thery can even apply for this visa. The Visa Capping Bill enables the Minister for Immi to scrap their visa applications, terminate their Bridging Visas at the same time and kick them out of Oz, potentially after giving them no more than 28 days notice.

 

Many of these Parents are in their 70s and 80s. The only life that they have left is the one that they have with their child or children in Oz. Nonetheless, they could still be kicked out of Oz with no rights of review or appeal.

 

No doubt Minister Evans would claim that he has “no intention” of ever treating elderly people so badly. He is nevertheless frightening them into an early grave. Why? If he has “no intention” of treating them badly, why have these elderly Parents not been ring-fenced in his preposterous new Visa Capping Bill, so as to reassure them – and me – that the Aussie Government would never stoop to such abominable conduct? If he thinks that my own reaction is one of “hysteria” then he will just have to live with it until he convinces me that the Government would never stoop so low.

 

These Parents and Aged Parents have not been ring fenced. I hope that the other Senators will protect these very vulnerable groups.

 

If I were the Aussie Parliament, I would not waste my own time on re-drafting this Bill. I would simply chuck it out in its entirety and tell Minister Evans to re-write the thing fully and properly if he expects me to consider the revised version of this iniquitous new Bill..

 

Gill

 

The new Bill and the rest of the stuff about it is described here:

 

Visa Capping - Senate Inquiry - PomsInOz Forum

 

Peter Mares is an Aussie journo. He interviewd the Minister and others on the ABC National Interest programme yesterday (4th June 2010.) The programme is here:

 

The National Interest - About

 

New immigration powers cause concern - The National Interest - 4 June 2010

 

I intend to make the mother & father of a fuss until vulnerable, elderly people are properly and fully protected from this rubbish.

 

If Taffy Evans chooses to claim that I am being "hysterical" then let him bluddy well claim that unless and until he convinces me that he has NO nefarious intentions towards Parents and that he will see to it that they are fully and properly protected. I will not be convinced until Parents have been protected by Statute.

 

I understand that Senator Xenophon can and might help to get this preposterous new Bill kicked ut:

 

Nick Xenophon - Independent Senator for South Australia

 

He is a Federal MP for South Australia, I gather.

 

Please, please contact this guy in order to help me to protect your Parents from this potential rubbish.

 

Very many thanks

 

Gill

[Guest Celine]

Hi Gill,

thanks for all the useful info, I'm in the process of applying for a CPV 143 which is extremely expensive as you are aware - it's definetly given me 'food for thought'