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No more split parent applications By Jennifer HayCONTRIBUTORY Parent split visa applications granted on or after July 1, 2009 will be faced with a five-year ban before being able to sponsor their partners to Australia. The split application strategy has been used by some parents as a way of avoiding the high second contribution fee that applies to each parent included in a contributory parent visa application. As of July 1, 2009, this second visa application charge will be AU$34,330 per parent. Applicants that apply in this way avoid the second contribution fee by only applying for a contributory parent visa for one parent. The other parent is subsequently sponsored for a spouse visa once the first parent has been granted their contributory parent visa and is resident in Australia. A further advantage to parents applying with the split method is that the second parent, who is sponsored for a spouse visa, will not be subject to the 10-year waiting period for Government benefits that also applies to parent visas. Spouse visa applicants are, in contrast, able to access Government benefits within two years. Contributory parent visas also have a mandatory 10-year bond applicable to each parent, while the spouse visas also do not have this requirement. All in all there are a number of benefits to parents applying with a split application and it has been a method that has been used successfully by parents without the financial capacity to pay the second contribution fee for both parents. The new five-year ban will apply to applicants who are granted a permanent contributory parent visa on or after July 1 and who were either engaged or in a married or de facto relationship with their partners on or before the date their permanent Contributory Parent Visa was granted. The Government argues that the high parent contribution fee is designed to offset the costs of parent migration to Australia and that the contribution should rightly be paid by both parents. I cannot agree, however, with a ban that applies to applications that have already been lodged but not yet granted. These are applications were lodged in good faith with the understanding that the split application method was not prohibited under migration legislation. The ban also discriminates against poorer parents who should have the same rights to join their children in Australia. If such a ban is to be implemented it should, at the very least, only apply to applications that are submitted on or after July 1, 2009 so that applicants are aware of what they are applying for at the time of application. Some parents may have had a split application waiting to be processed for 18 months and will only now be hearing about the new five-year ban. Had these applicants been aware of this at the time of application, they would not have proceeded with their split applications. The Department of Immigration & Citizenship has indicated that the limitation may not apply in compelling circumstances, which are not financially related, but there will obviously be many applicants who are severely disadvantaged by the changes. |
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