|
GOOD NEWS FOR PARENTS By Lance Fee,Director Live Downunder UK OVER the period that the previous Coalition Government held office, there were many decisions taken concerning immigration that the opposition parties expressed strong objection to. Many of these involved the humanitarian visa categories and, in particular, the overseas processing centres that had been set up as a part of the Government's aim to prevent refugees from access to the Australian legal system. The new Labor Government, led by Kevin Rudd, has already signalled changes to the refugee programme, so we can also expect to see change in the non-humanitarian program also. During the time that they were in opposition, the new Government did express its concern about the parent visa stream and the limit of 500 places per year placed on the non-contributory parent category. Under this category of visa, applicants are queued for visa processing and, at the present time, there is a waiting time of up 10 years. The problem with this waiting time is that there are such a variety of health issues that may arise, preventing applicants from a visa grant when the time has elapsed. There is the Contributory Parent visa, a far quicker alternative, but applicants here must pay a significant amount before visa grant to cover the costs of entry into Australia's Medicare scheme. For some, this avenue is out of reach of their financial capacity, but even then, this avenue has a limit on the number of places allocated each year. The other issue for parents is the length of time taken to process the Contributory Parent visa. In the early stages, processing time was around 6 months and now the average processing time is between nine to twelve months. With parents prepared to pay for their entry into Australia at such a high premium, there should be a faster processing period. While we can expect to see some changes, they may not come quickly enough as, under the Australian electoral process, the new Government will not have the numbers in the Senate, Australia's Upper House of Parliament, until the newly elected Senators take office later in 2008. On the present outcome, it appears that no party will have control of the Upper House as the minor parties and independents will hold the balance of power. |
About Us | Our Publications | Shopping | Visa Enquiries | Information Days | Links | Advertising | Privacy Policy
© 2005 Consyl Publishing & Publicity Ltd.