Family Visas

There are numerous opportunities for Australian residents and citizens to sponsor their family members to migrate to Australia.  Some of the main category visas are:

• Spouse Visas
  
• Prospective Spouse (Fiancé) Visas
  
• Contributory Parent Visas
  
• Other Parent Visas
  
• Child Visas

Spouse Visa
A spouse visa has unlimited work and study rights.  Depending upon your particular circumstances, you can either apply directly for permanent residence, or you will need to apply for a temporary spouse visa first.

Prospective Spouse
A fiancé visa has unlimited work and study rights.  A fiancé visa allows you to come to Australia for a period of 9 months, specifically so that you can get married.  You must marry and lodge an application for a spouse visa before 9 months has passed.

You must be able to evidence that you have a genuine intention to marry and have a shared life together.  In addition you must show that you have met personally and are known to each other. 

The country where you live will be where you lodge your application.

Contributory Parent
You can apply for these categories in two ways, either a 2 year temporary visa, followed by a further application for permanent residency, or proceed directly to permanent residency. 

You will need to be sponsored by your child, who must have been a permanent resident or citizen in Australia for at least 2 years prior to the application being lodged.  You must also meet the "balance of family test" which means that more of your children must be in Australia than not.  For example, if one of your children lives in Australia, and 2 of them live in your home country, you will not meet this test, however if you have one child in Australia, one in your home country and one in a third country, you will meet this test.

The contributory parent visa is a much faster assessment than the standard categories of parent visas because there are contributions that must be paid in order for a visa to be granted.

There is also an assurance of support required for a permanent visa for both of these pathways. 

Other Parent Visas
There are opportunities for parents who can not afford to the substantial contributions for the contributory parent visa, and there are also categories for aged parents.  The processing times for the non-contributory subclasses can be significantly longer than the contributory subclasses.

Child Visas
A child is eligible for a visa if they have a parent who is an Australian permanent resident or citizen.  They must be dependent on that parent, which means that they must be either under the age of 18 years, or are studying full time and are not married with any children of their own, and you are fully responsible for their cost of living, support, and other similar criteria.