My mum wishes to come out with us when we finally get going. The thing is she would like to stay for at least 6 to 12 months. I beleive that most electronic holiday visas are only upto 3 months. Anyone any ideas on what visa would give her longer to stay.

If she likes it, and we decide after our 2 year decision date, to stay she would like to retire with us. She is my only immidiate family member that isnt part of my emigrating family (dad died) unit so would need to apply for a retirement visa. I have heard that a retirement visa can take years to process :sigh: is this true. She has a pension and will have all the cash from her house sale so she will be able to support herself. She is only 63 at the mo.

Sorry 2 questions in one there ;)
Any ideas guys and girls, I know the visa system is a minefield :ph43r:
Thanks in advance,
Jase

HI Jase

From the visitor visa point of view try here http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/overview.htm where it says:

Tourist visa, subclass 676
A Tourist visa can be applied for from outside Australia (offshore) or in Australia. Generally a Tourist visa will be granted for a stay of 3 months or 6 months, but in certain circumstances a stay of 12 months may be granted.

For offshore applicants, a Tourist visa allows:
a stay of up to 12 months, depending on the reason for your visit and your ability to support yourself during your stay in Australia



This looks as if it may lead to details about how you sponsor your parent for a permanent visa http://www.immi.gov.au/sponsor/family_permanent.htm. I think you'll have to explore the detail further here depending on your particular family circumstances.

...ooh and this page has booklets with all the details in http://www.immi.gov.au/migration/family/

Thanks Elaine your a poppet ;)

Sammy

Would your mum have any children/siblings/parents left in the UK once you leave? If not, she may qualify for the Last Remaining Relative visa, as long as you are Aus citizens by that time and can act as sponsor and assurer for her. My mum applied onshore in May this year and was granted her PR visa in July. There are currently no monetary pre-requisites for this type of visa.

Julia :)

Hi all,

My parents are thinking of following once we settle, so info really helpful


Ta

Hi guys, to answer Julias question, My mum has a brother and a sister. apparently this still counts as immediate family for the purposes of the sole surviving relative part of the visa, even though she does not see them as they live diffrent ends of the country :sigh:
Thanks for all your info though much appriciated.
Jase

Hi
Jase

This was a problem for Russells mum aswell. Even though she hasn't seen any for a number of years.


Mandy :bouncy:

How did you guys over come this?

I am assuming you have no brothers or sisters, or in some way pass the balance of family test. If so, then your Mum can apply for the contributory parents visa. This is considerably more expensive than the usual Parents Visa (something like $30,000)but is a permanent visa. There are more places available with the contributory visa than the parents visa.

On the other hand, there is a chance that your Mum might be able to come over on a holiday visa and then lodge her application for a parent visa - she would have to apply for a bridging visa to let her stay in the country while she was waiting. There is a migration agent in the Central Markets complex who got my friends Mum in this way, but it was a couple of years back so visa conditions may have changed since then.

Fees and charges for the different visas can be found here:

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i/990i_booklet3.htm

Good luck, adelaidegirl

My parents may be in this position too, of wanting to come permanently in due course if we decide we're permanent here.

Last night I followed the links on the immi page to find the calculator of waiting lists for the contributory parent visa. It's a bit hit and miss as you have to enter a date, and I kept choosing dates when no visas had been issued so it just came up with an error. But when I hit on (I think) 15 Nov 2005 it told me there were just 20 visas in the queue at that date, so at least there shouldn't be a long wait for that particular visa.

Hi
Russells mum got the Contributory Parent Visa in the end. Hope that helps.


Mandy :bouncy:

Thanks Mandy Ill have alook at that one,
regards Jase :D

Hi

We looked into this for Tina's parents about the start of December. As Tina has 3 sisters still in the UK (and the Oz government does not care whether they get on or not) there is no route other than the retirement investment visa.

This requires a bond of $500,000 and for them to have a guaranteed income of at least $50,000 anually. Also the visa application fee was $5000 I think per applicant. This gave a visa valid for 3 years whereupon there would be another investment of $250,000 required, but the $500,000 would have been refunded at this point. Also the visa will not be granted until all the proceeds are liquid and then it's still not guaranteed to be granted. So they would have to sell up and gamble on getting the visa.

Also there is no access to Medicare or any other benefits and all health cover has to be private. The governments stance is, if you're coming you contribute through skills or pay, and there must be no cost incurred by the Oz population for your retirement stay.

Well that counted them out unfortunately.

All the best

Adam

That is shocking Adam so much money to outlay from the start :o

Sasha :)