The
Australian Government has announced that community consultations are about to
commence to develop a continuous 5-year temporary visa for parents of Australian
citizens or permanent residents. The visa, which the Coalition had promised
during the election campaign in June, is set to take effect on July 1, 2017.
At present
parents of Australian citizens or permanent residents can apply for a 5-year
visitor visa but can only spend up to 12 months in the country in any 18-month
period and the visa is offered on a case-by-case basis to applicants who have
lodged a concurrent permanent parental visa application. Otherwise the visa is
for a 12-month period only.
The announcement
comes after the Productivity Commission released a report that suggested
supporting parents of immigrants cost the country too much at between $2.6
billion and $3.2 billion over their lifetimes.
The
commission recommended an overhaul of the visa scheme, proposing among
other changes that families of non-contributing parents paid for private health insurance and provided financial guarantee so they would not
be a burden to the Australian government.
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