The Federal Government earlier this year unveiled a new temporary sponsored visa for the parents of migrants that will allow them to stay in Australia for a continuous period of up to ten years.
The announcement of a parental visa allowing continuous long-term stay was first made by the coalition in the run-up to the 2016 federal election which followed a sustained campaign by members of the Indian community.
The government expects the visa which is subject to the passage of the Migration Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2016, to be available to the people by the end of the year.
The bill has already been passed by the lower house and is now listed for a debate in the Senate this week. The upper house will debate it on Tuesday.
Temporary sponsored visa for parents
In May this year, Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke unveiled a visa for parents of migrants allowing them a continuous stay of up to ten years.
The visa will be available for the parents of Australian citizens, permanent residents and eligible New Zealand citizens.
Under this new visa, applicants can seek a three-year visa for $5,000 or a five-year visa for $10,000, with the opportunity for a single renewal for another five years at the same price.
The financial burden of healthcare for migrant parents will be shouldered by their children under the new visa, with sponsors legally required to pay for their private health insurance.
The objective of our campaign was to have a visa for the parents of those migrants who can’t afford the expensive permanent contributor visas or those who don’t meet the balance of family test for the permanent parental visa. But if you calculate, this new visa will be nearly as expensive as the contributory visa.- Arvind Duggal who spearheaded a campaign for a long-stay parental visa.
High cost
Migrant communities campaigned for many years for a parental visa that allows the parents a continuous stay, like the ones in the US and Canada, without having to leave Australia after 12 months.
However, many migrants find the new visa “too expensive” and say they are disappointed with the new scheme.
“How many of us can afford to pay $10,000 in visa fees and then also add insurance premiums. It’s simply unaffordable,” says Adelaide resident Arvind Duggal who spearheaded a campaign for a long-stay parental visa.
The Federal Government made good on its made before last year’s federal election. However, Mr Duggal says the government’s new visa doesn’t meet the objectives of the campaign he and other members of the Indian community ran.
“The objective of our campaign was to have a visa for the parents of those migrants who can’t afford the expensive permanent contributor visas or those who don’t meet the balance of family test for the permanent parental visa. But if you calculate, this new visa will be nearly as expensive as the contributory visa,” he told SBS Punjabi.
However, the Government says the new visa was formulated after a wide public consultation.
"Most visa holders will never have paid tax in Australia but will benefit from using existing infrastructure, including transport, emergency services, energy, public hospitals and communications," Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said while addressing a query on the high visa fee.
He said the new visa was beneficial for both the visiting parents and their families in Australia.
"The visa holder can stay in Australia for five years continuously, thereby saving on the cost of airfares that would be incurred over a similar period of interrupted stay... In situations where parents assist with minding the grandchildren, there are also potentially significant savings on the cost of childcare," said Mr Hawke.
Most visa holders will never have paid tax in Australia but will benefit from using existing infrastructure, including transport, emergency services, energy, public hospitals and communications.- Assistant Immigration Minister, Alex Hawke
‘Government broke parent visa promise’
Before the collation promised a five-year visa for parents during the run-up to the 2016 election, Labor considering a strong demand from the migrant communities promised to introduce a visa allowing three-year continuous stay for parents of migrants.
After the unveiling of the new visa, the Federal opposition said it is disappointed by the Government’s “broken promise” on the parental visa.
“Before the election, Peter Dutton promised this visa would include a bond rather than a fee and made no mention of a visa cap, or that couples would need to choose between their parents and in-laws as part of a limit to one set of parents,” Shayne Neumann, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection told SBS Punjabi.
Mr Neumann said the visa policy Labor had announced was better than what the government has come out with.
“Labor supports children having the opportunity to temporarily reunite with their parents and we took a policy to the Federal election which we believe was better and fairer,” he said.
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