Family visas can be divided in 4 main groups: Partner Visas, Parents’ Visas, Children’s Visas and others. All of these groups contain number of visas that cater for just about every possible family situation and more. The main purpose of these visas is to unite family members. It should be noted that some of these visas are capped and for some classes there may be more than 20 years waiting time, for visa to be granted. Various conditions also have to be satisfied for individual visa. All partner visas are provisional visas and only qualifying period a permanent partner visa is issued. If relationship or marriage ends before this time, there is no guarantee that the sponsored partner could remain in Australia permanently except in exceptional circumstances.
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Partner Visas
This class of visas caters for partners of Australian citizens, permanent residents and eligible New Zealand residents. It may involve, married applicants (spouses), de-facto partners (includes even same sex partners) and fiancés (people intending to get married. Eligibility criteria varies from one to another visa. There are onshore and offshore versions in most of these classes. Limitation on partner sponsorship also apply. Dependants can also be included. Partner visas are not capped -
Parents visas
There are number of classes of parents’ visas available and all of them are capped. They provider for working age parents as well as aged parents. There are onshore and offshore versions available. In some categories there is a waiting list of more than 20 years. To overcome this, Australian government introduced Contributory Parents visas subclass. This provides for more rapid visa grant, however the contribution is significant and additional condition have to be met such as remainder of family test for example. To ease the financial burden on sponsoring children, the Government made a staged provision, where contribution is paid over period of 2 years. The parent in this situation is issued temporary visa first and then permanent after. Separate application has to be made on each occasion. -
Children’s Visas
Though children can be included in just about any visa as secondary applicants, there are number of visas that make provisions for children in particular situations. Dependant children are usually minors under 18 years of age (includes stepchildren) or under 25 if studying full time and dependent on parents. There is also provision for child adoption from overseas, though strict rules apply and private adoption is more or less impossible. Close relative rule also applies to orphan class visa. All children have to be sponsored and there are some limitation applying on sponsorship. Nearly all children’s visas are permanent except where a parent was sponsored by partner and is still on temporary visa. -
Other Family Visas
Partners, Parents and Children’s class visa cover most of the family situations, however there are other type of family visas that provide Australian entry facilities for particular situations. Sponsored family visitor’s visa provides for overseas visitors to visit for limited period of time. Criteria to satisfy is in some instances very simple but from some high risk countries is very comprehensive. For people that may not have anyone in Australia to care for them in case of sickness, there are carers’ visas. To unite families there is Remaining relative and Aged Dependant relative visas