[flighty]

You might have noticed, I'm full of questions. :D My mother lives with us in a granny flat. It would be a hard blow for her if we were to up and move to Australia without her. She's in her 60s and in perfect health. She's financially independent. (Dad's dead now but she gets a good pension from his work.) Could she move with us? Could she be included in our immigration application as a family member?

[Richard]

Hi flighty,

There are two main types of permanent parent visas, the contributory parent visa and the non-contributory parent visa. The difference between the two is that the contributory visa costs much more and gets people into Australia much faster.

To qualify for either visa, your mother will need to pass the 'balance of family' test. This means that at least half of her children must be permanently resident in Australia or she must have more children living permanently in Australia than any other country.

I don't know your personal circumstances, but if you are an only child or you are one of two children, your mother will definitely be able to apply for a parent visa. Otherwise, it will depend where your brothers and sisters are living at the moment. Examples of how the balance of family test works are here (http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/103/balance-family.htm).

Provided she passes the balance of family test, you would have to sponsor your mother.

There will also be a health check and a character check.

The information from Australian Immigration is here (http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/103/).

Waiting times
The visa numbers for the non-contributory visa are heavily restricted and there is a wait of many years to qualify for this visa. At the moment the wait is up to 10 years.

Contributory Visa
There is also a wait time for the contributory visa of about 2 years. In 2007–08, high demand for the contributory parent visa category meant that a queue formed for the first time. In the 2008–09 Migration Program year, the number of contributory parent category visa places available for applicants applying from in and outside Australia has been increased to 6500.

Based on current planning levels and the number of contributory parent visa applications already lodged, new applicants can expect to wait between 18 months and two years before visa grant consideration.

More info on wait times is here. (http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent-visa-processing-priorities.htm)

Fees
The contributory fee is $1705 initially and on acceptance a further $34,330.
The non-contributory fee is $1705 initially and a further $1480 on acceptance.

[scotty]

Sometimes dependents older than 18 are allowed with your application : see the immigration website (http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1276.pdf) for full details, it says

Other dependants
You may include other relatives in your application if they are
wholly or substantially reliant on you for financial support for
their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing and they have
been reliant on you for that support for a substantial period.
They must also be more reliant on you for support than on any
other person or source. A relative may also be considered
dependent on you if they are reliant on you for financial support
because they have a mental or physical disability which stops
them from earning a living to support themselves. Other
relatives dependent on you, your partner may include, for
example, an aged, unmarried relative.

[flighty]

Thanks for your help guys. It looks like we'll have to get a Contributory Visa application in for mum the minute we arrive in Australia. Meanwhile, I don't know how long she'd be able to visit us for before she gets the visa. Say it was going to take 18 months for a visa to be issued. Would she be able to stay in Australia as a visitor for that amount of time or something close to it?

[Richard]

Hi again flighty,

There are visitor's visas (http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/) but these probably aren't much good because they can only allow a maximum stay of 12 months.

You might want to look into bridging visas, which tide people over while they wait for a decision on their application. This means that they can lawfully stay in Australia while their visa is being processed. I don't know much about them at all.

There's also the Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) Visa (Subclass 884)

This visa allows aged parents who are in Australia on a temporary basis and who have children living in Australia, to live in Australia for two (2) years. You cannot extend or renew this visa.

If you are granted this visa and want to live in Australia permanently, you can apply for the corresponding Contributory Aged Parent (Migrant) visa (Subclass 864). You must apply for the permanent visa before this temporary visa expires.

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent/884/

This page looks at the different visas parents are eligible for.

http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/parent-inside.htm

Booklet 3 (http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1129.pdf) parent Migration also has lots of useful information.

[flighty]

Wow, that's great news about the temporary visa for parents, it's just what I was looking for. I think that's the way we'll play it. Thanks for all your help Richard.

[jimjams]

What a great thread. Very useful info. It's certainly something Mrs jimjams will be interested in. She's fretting about the parent situation already and we're only at the planning stage.

Does anyone have any idea about what fraction of immigrants actually end up bringing there parents into Australia?

[Doctor Who]

Personal circumstances make this thread interesting to me too, so thank you everyone for the info. Jimjams, I think to get an idea of the fraction, look at the figures for how many immigrants arrive in Australia each year vs how many parent issues are issued. I don't know the arrival numbers but Richard mentions 6500 parent visas this year.

[jimjams]

Thanks Doc. I missed your reply earlier. It looks like a reasonable amount of immigrants end up bringing their parents in. That's still our plan.