sha

Need Advice please.

I hold an Australian passport and my daughter has just recieved hers by Descent. My Husband is applying for the Spouse Visa.
We want to move to Australia Late next year.
Problam.#

We want my mum to come too.
She will be 80 years but in good health.

I know what visa she needs to apply for and all that but the problam is that we need to be SETTLED in Australia for 2yrs (3months) before she can apply.

I am her only duaghter and she relys on me alot.
We want to all move over together at the same time.
If she is living with us, has no other children,can support herself (pensions) and has savings that she can transfer into an australian bank account -
then surely there must be away around the visa process - and we cant be expected to sell up - leave her homeless whilst we live out there for 3 months before she has the chance to join us.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jwood

can't she be included in the visa application as a dependant?

sha

Do you mean on my husbands visa??

Cooperclan

Hi we asked Go Matilda exactly the same question as we want to take my mum with us when we go. She lives in a flat which we bought and pay for next door to our house, she spends all her time with us and we pay her bills etc. Go Matilda said that if you live in the UK then you can't include your parent as a dependant. This is because we have a state pension in this country which is regarded as being sufficient for a pensioner to live on..If a pensioner has no family to care for them in the UK then the state will step in and provide. Therefore your parent is not dependent on you in the same way that a parent living with their child in a country without a state pension system would be like say india for instance...really frustrating.

You can get tourist sponsored visas for up to 12 months at a time so we are thinking that mum could come out for say 10 months on a tourist visa then come back to the UK or visit friends in NZ for 2 months then apply for another tourist sponsored visa until we have been resident for the 2 yrs to sponsor her on a CPV - unless someone out there knows why this isn't possible????

sha

I have been told that if my mum came out to Australia on a genuine holiday, then once there changed her mind and decided she wanted to apply for an onshore parent visa, she would be eligible to do so.
You are considered settled after 3 months (if can prove got job - sold us in uk, kids in schools etc)

trouble is with this plan is we would have to go out there for 3 months first - leaving her own her own. Not sure she could cope.

She has uk pensions so can support herself but its the being left on her own thats theproblem - ie getting around for shopping etc.

But as far as i am aware thats the only way we can do it.
Not sure if she can come with us when we go but surely that would look a bit suspicous - with myself and daughter with a Australian passport, husband on a partner visa and mum on a holiday visa. So not sure if we could do it this way and get away with it.

Cooperclan

It's a nightmare isn't it? If your mum did as you suggested ..went out on a tourist visa then changed her mind and applied for an onshore visa do you know whether your mum woud be allowed to stay in Australia and for how long after she made the application ie..would she be able to stay until a decision was made?

Cooperclan

Just had a look on a website which seems to be saying that if your parent applies on shore for a parent visa as long as they are over 65 they will be issued a bridging visa until the application has been decided.

It's all so worrying

Alan Collett

There is a real risk that if a sufficiently large number of parents in the UK obtain a tourist visa and then have a "spur of the moment" decision to apply for an onshore Aged Parent visa or Contributory Aged Parent visa the Department of Immigration will decide to impose condition 8503 on all such tourist visa applications.

Condition 8503 in essence means no onshore visa can be applied for.

Best regards.

JAJ

Or they will impose a condition 8503 on all ETAs. This is effectively what both the United States and United Kingdom have done - there are very limited opportunities to arrive as a tourist on visa waiver and then switch to another status.

I wouldn't recommend this strategy anyhow - healthcare coverage, or lack thereof, is the first of many concerns.

I would also not underestimate the stress that spending many years in "visa limbo" onshore could have on the health of an elderly person.

Cooperclan

Thank you for the info I take your point on the flood gate issue. Could someone please clarify what it means to be "settled" - Is this 2 years or 3 months?

Alan Collett

http://www.gomatilda.com/news/article.cfm?articleid=441

Best regards.

Cooperclan

Thanks Alan, the article was really helpful.

As a lawyer (not immigration I hasten to add) this whole migration process is proving to be more of a "bus mans holiday" than I had first envisaged.

sha

Thanks for all the replys.

Ok so if you where me - what would you do - whats the best and sensible way to get my mum out to OZ with us.

If she did follow us out after 2 months of us leaving the uk - on a holiday visa, what are the chances of them not applying the 8503 code before hand. and once the holiday visa is granted can they put this code on after she has arrived in Australia because they think she might try to stay??
How easy is it to switch over to a bridging visa?
And is private medical care expensive.?

JAJ

Private medical care is going to be very expensive for anyone who hasn't got access to Medicare.

The bottom line is that if she wants to move to Australia, she needs to get her migration visa before she leaves the United Kingdom. Trying to arrive as a tourist and fix things later on carries far too much risk, not least the prospect of having to go home if her application to stay is refused.