SC600 Tourist Visa extension due to hospitalisation???

My mother in law has been staying with us for the last 2.5 months and had a heart attack today and has been admitted to hospital, there is still a lot of uncertainty but they are talking about surgery and we should know more in the next few days. She has flights booked home on the 15th June and her visa expires 19th June.

Has anyone seen this situation? Is it reasonably straightforward to extend her visa? She is in bad shape, what happens if she can't travel for a considerable period of time?

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/602-

Sorry to hear this news.

Have a look at a subclass 602 visa on the basis that your m-in-law is too unwell to depart Australia.

Best regards.

http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/602-

 

Sorry to hear this news.

 

Have a look at a subclass 602 visa on the basis that your m-in-law is too unwell to depart Australia.

 

Best regards.

Thank you Alan, much appreciated.

With Alan's advice in hand, I also gave immigration a call on 131 881 who were very helpful. They advised that if my MIL is still expected to be in hospital when the visa expires on the 19th June, then we need to apply for the Sub Class 602 Medical visa for both her and my father in law, however if she is already out of hospital we can just apply for the sub class 600 extension providing reasons etc. He advised that as long as the 'application' is in before the present visa expires, we will be all fine and legal, even if the new visa isn't actually issued. This all provides some relief.

My mother in law is showing some signs of improvement, but is still in the intensive care unit. Unfortunately the travel insurance they purchased isn't as comprehensive as we'd have liked, and the public hospital overseas visitor fees are AU$5000+ a day whilst in intensive care and AU$2000+ otherwise plus all of the tests and procedures (this doesn't surprise me, as the hospital treatment is absolutely amazing, I cannot find any faults with them), so we have to see how we manage that once she is discharged.

I see this thread comes up high in google when searching for answers about similar circumstances, so hopefully this helps other people in times of stress.

Watch the inclusion of condition 8503 on an extension to the visitor visa => given her condition I'd look at a subclass 602 application irrespective of whether she's in or out of hospital.

Feel able to ping an email to me (click on my name to the left of this post) if you think you might need some formal assistance with this.

Best regards.

Watch the inclusion of condition 8503 on an extension to the visitor visa => given her condition I'd look at a subclass 602 application irrespective of whether she's in or out of hospital.

 

Feel able to ping an email to me (click on my name to the left of this post) if you think you might need some formal assistance with this.

 

Best regards.

Alan,

Thanks for that, I am waiting to see what develops in the next few days. She is very keen to be discharged and go home on the 15th as planned, but it will be a few days before the doctors will be in a position to decide what happens next. With what you've said, we will go for the 602 if we need to, as she might need ongoing treatment here and may be prevented from travelling by doctors orders.