Budget Impact on Migration Program

Listed below is a summary of some of the budget announcements which will have an effect on immigration related issues:

1. Annual intake; there is to be no change to the migration program numbers which will remain at 190,000 places for the 2017/18 year,
2. Temporary employment visas; as announced prior to the budget there have been significant changes to the 457 scheme; several hundred occupations are no longer eligible for temporary work purposes, the 457 Visa will soon be abolished and replaced by a new visa to be known as the dual stream Temporary Skills Shortage Visa and only those employees whose occupations appear on the new Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List will be eligible for transition to permanent residence after three years of employment with the sponsoring employer (previously two years).
3. Training benchmarks; a levy, referred to as the Skilling Australians Fund Levy, will replace the current training benchmarks for employers sponsoring workers on 457 and 186 visas. From March 2018, businesses with turnover of less than $10 million per year will be required to make an upfront payment of $1200 per visa per year for each employee on a Temporary Skill Shortage visa. A one-off payment of $3000 will be required for each employee being sponsored for permanent employment under either the Employer Nomination Scheme or Regional Sponsored Migration.
   For businesses with turnover in excess of $10 million the payments will be $1800 and $5000 respectively.
4. Temporary sponsored parent Visa; this is a new visa to be introduced in November 2017 with an allocation of 15,000 visas annually. It will allow the temporary stay of sponsored parents in Australia for periods of up to three or five years. The visa may be renewed from outside Australia to allow a cumulative stay of up to ten years. The sponsor (the Australian child) will be responsible for any public health expenditure incurred by the visa holder whilst in Australia.
5. Foreign investors; A Foreign Investors Tax Levy of $5000 per year will be imposed on foreign investors who do not occupy or lease their Australian properties for at least 6 months of the year. In addition, other tax measures aimed at foreign investors -principally dealing with capital gains tax - have been announced.
6. Age Pension and Disability Support Pension Eligibility; from 1 July 2018 more strict residency rules for new migrants to access Australian pensions will be introduced. Claimants will be required to have 15 years of continuous Australian residence before being eligible to receive the age pension or a disability support pension. Certain exemptions will apply.

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Contributory Parent Visas - Apply Sooner Rather Than Later

If you are contemplating applying for a Contributory Parent Visa it would be wise to get an application lodged with the Department of Immigration as soon as possible, as processing times for this category of visa are already significant and likely to become longer with the demise of other options.

Based on current planning levels, contributory parent applicants can expect to wait 12 to 24 months for a visa grant to be made.

The Minister for Immigration has the power to ‘cap’ the number of visas which can be granted each year in a particular visa class. All parent Visa subclasses (103, 143, 173, 804, 864 and 884) are subject to capping, meaning that once the number of visa places set by the Minister for a class has been reached in a particular year, no further visas in that class can be issued and any outstanding applications will ‘rollover’ into the next processing year. For the 2014/2015 migration year the minister has allocated a total of 7175 contributory parent Visas.

 

Gradually over time, if the number of applications continues to exceed the annual cap, there can be a build up of large numbers of applications waiting to be finalised with the result that visa grants can take several years to finalise. For this reason, it is most important to get an application into the system as quickly as possible.

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PARENT VISA UPDATE

 

Overview

There are two visa categories for parents wishing to migrate to Australia:

• the parent category
• the contributory parent category.

To apply for any parent or contributory parent visa, you must be the parent of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, who is ‘settled’ at the time the application is lodged. You must also satisfy the “balance of family” test.

The core requirements for both the parent category and the contributory parent category are similar. However there are key differences. These are:

• applicants in the contributory parent category have significantly shorter waiting periods for applications to be finalised
• visa applications in the contributory parent category are accorded a higher priority for processing
• applicants for a contributory parent visa pay a substantially higher second visa application charge (per person) and a larger “assurance of support” (AoS) bond (with a longer AoS period).

Contributory Parent Category visas

The contributory parent category comprises:

For elderly applicants applying in Australia

• Contributory Aged Parent (Migrant) (subclass 864) visa
• Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) (subclass 884) visa.

For other applicants

• Contributory Parent (Migrant) (subclass 143) visa
• Contributory Parent (Temporary) (subclass 173) visa.

Permanent and temporary Contributory Parent visas

A parent can apply for either a permanent or a temporary contributory parent visa. The temporary visa is valid for two years and provides access to Medicare and full work rights. A temporary Contributory Parent visa cannot be extended or renewed.

A temporary Contributory Parent visa holder can then apply for the corresponding permanent contributory parent visa in Australia or overseas at any time during the two year validity of their temporary visa.

Holders of a temporary Contributory Parent visa who apply for the corresponding permanent visa during the two years obtain certain concessions, such as:

• completing a shorter application form, Form 47PT Application for migration to Australia by a Contributory Parent (Temporary) or a Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) visa holder
• paying a substantially reduced first visa application charge on lodgement of the permanent visa application
• not being re-assessed against the balance of family test
• generally not being required to undergo further health checks.

If a person does not apply for the permanent visa before the expiry of their temporary Contributory Parent visa, they do not get the benefit of these concessions.

A person who is the holder, or has been the holder of, a temporary Contributory Parent visa since last entering Australia can make a valid application for only a very limited range of visas:

• the corresponding permanent Contributory Parent category visa
• a Medical Treatment visa
• a Protection visa.

Age requirements

The primary applicant must satisfy the aged requirement for both Contributory Aged Parent (Residence) (subclass 864) visa or Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) (subclass 884) visa applications. An 'aged' parent is one who is old enough to be granted the Australian aged pension.

Lodging contributory parent visa applications

Contributory Aged Parent visa applicants must be in Australia to lodge their application and for a visa grant.

Contributory Parent (Temporary) (subclass 173) visa applicants must lodge their applications outside of Australia and must be outside of Australia for a visa grant. If granted a visa, Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa holders can lodge a permanent Contributory Parent (subclass 143) visa application either in or outside of Australia. They can be in or outside Australia for visa grant.

All other applicants for a Contributory Parent (Migrant) (subclass 143) visa must lodge their application outside of Australia and be outside of Australia for visa grant. They are not eligible to obtain a bridging visa to remain lawfully in Australia while their Contributory Parent (Migrant) (subclass 143) visa is being processed.

Applicants are not able to lodge an application while they are in Australia if they are barred from doing so. Applicants may be barred if they have a condition 8503 'No Further Stay' on their current visa, or if they do not hold a substantive visa and have been refused the grant of a visa since last entering Australia.

Balance of family test

The balance of family test requires that at least half of your children live permanently in Australia, or that more of your children live permanently in Australia than in any other country.

In order to count as living permanently in Australia, your children must be:

• Australian citizens
• Australian permanent residents who are usually resident in Australia
• eligible New Zealand citizens who are normally resident in Australia.

The test is designed as an objective measure of a parent's ties to Australia. No assessment is made about the nature of the parent and child relationship.

Sponsorship

All applicants for parent migration must be sponsored. At the time the visa application is made, the sponsor must be a 'settled' Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who is settled. 'Settled' means a person must have been a resident in Australia for a reasonable period, which under policy is usually two years.

If the child of the parent is 18 years or older, then the parent can be sponsored by that child or by that child's cohabiting partner.

If the child has not turned 18, applicants may be sponsored by the cohabiting partner of their child if the partner has turned 18 years of age, a relative or guardian of their child, or a community organisation.

Public interest criteria

Each parent and all dependent family members included in an application, must satisfy certain public interest requirements. This includes meeting the health and character requirements.

Capping and queuing

All contributory and non-contributory parent visas are subject to capping. Capping is the number of visas set by the minister for a class for that program year has been reached, no further visas can be granted in that class in that program year. All parent visas are subject to capping.

Please contact Ryan Curtis-Griffiths, Director, Nevett Ford Lawyers Melbourne by email: rcurtisgriffiths@nevettford.com.au or by telephone: +61 3 9614 7111 if you require any advice or assistance.

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