multiple tourist visas

[Guest rammie]

My parents have just been granted a 12 month multiple entry tourist visa , their intentions are to spend the summers in Australia with their family every year, they anticipated having to re-apply for a new visa every year from U.k. which meant medicals , x rays blood tests as they are over 70. They have now been informed by an agent that they need not apply for a new visa as long as they keep leaving Oz and returning within a 12 month period they can carry on using the existing visa indefinetly.So basically what he was saying is even if my folks leave and return to Oz a week before the visa expires they can stay another 12 months and they can carry on doing that as long as they wish, i personally am very doubtful about this information which they have recieved and would be very thankful if someone can verify if it is correct or not.

[Guest Mary Cockerill]

Hi Rammie. Did your parents apply for a visa valid for a stay of up to 12 months, or did they apply for a 12 month visa with stays of up to 3 months at a time? The visitor visas doe not last indefinitly, if you get to look at the visa it will give a grant date and a 'valid until' date. Depending on the type of visitor visa granted it will same something like this 'the holder is permitted to remain in Australia for period of 12 months from date of entry. Technically (subject to there being a NFS code) they can exit Australia just before the final date of the visa validity and enter again and remain for a further 12 months or the duration limit. But the visa for sure is not valid indefinitely. You can call DIAC to confirm their entitlement. Hope that helps.

[Guest donsayuriru]

Hi there, you need to check the status of their visa application online. There are visa entitlements and you can click it on DIACs website, immi.gov.au ,,, on the right side there is a link for VEVO. Click on it and it will ask you for some information. You may need to ask your agent if the information is not readily available.

 

 

My parents have just been granted a 12 month multiple entry tourist visa , their intentions are to spend the summers in Australia with their family every year, they anticipated having to re-apply for a new visa every year from U.k. which meant medicals , x rays blood tests as they are over 70. They have now been informed by an agent that they need not apply for a new visa as long as they keep leaving Oz and returning within a 12 month period they can carry on using the existing visa indefinetly.So basically what he was saying is even if my folks leave and return to Oz a week before the visa expires they can stay another 12 months and they can carry on doing that as long as they wish, i personally am very doubtful about this information which they have recieved and would be very thankful if someone can verify if it is correct or not.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

My parents have just been granted a 12 month multiple entry tourist visa , their intentions are to spend the summers in Australia with their family every year, they anticipated having to re-apply for a new visa every year from U.k. which meant medicals , x rays blood tests as they are over 70. They have now been informed by an agent that they need not apply for a new visa as long as they keep leaving Oz and returning within a 12 month period they can carry on using the existing visa indefinetly.So basically what he was saying is even if my folks leave and return to Oz a week before the visa expires they can stay another 12 months and they can carry on doing that as long as they wish, i personally am very doubtful about this information which they have recieved and would be very thankful if someone can verify if it is correct or not.

 

Hi rammie

 

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

 

Let is start right at the beginning, please, because the description that you have provided suggests a right old muddle to me!

 

Which visa have your Parents been granted, please? The possibilities are on the link below:

 

Visa Options - Tourists - Visitors - Visas & Immigration

 

Let us start by discussing the relevant visa, instead of theoretical possibilities, I suggest.

 

You say that they want to spend their "summers" in Oz. Does that mean 3 months, six months, or some other period of time, please?

 

Whichever visas have been granted, unless DIAC have made a mistake the visas say, "Not valid for travel to Australia after dd/mm/yyyy." This date of dd/mm/yyyy will be a date that is 12 months after the grant of the visas.

 

"Not valid for travel to Australia...." means what it says. It could be that DIAC have made a mistake and have granted open-ended tourist visas but I think that this is very highly unlikely because the letters are generated by the DIAC computer. The template on the computer would prompt the Case Officer into thinking about and inserting an end date for the visas.

 

Please could you clarify what the visas actually say and which visas we are talking about, please? I'd like the exact subclass number of the visas, please, as shown on the link above because the arrangements for each of the visas are sightly different from the arrangements for all of the others, hence it is crucial to be sure of which subclass of visa is under discussion.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

Many thanks

[Guest rammie]

my parents visa is a 12 month tourist visa it expires 12th march 2011 , they are intending to return to u.k. and re- enter oz before that date which i am sure will give them another 12 months on the same visa however after that they are hoping to spend 6 months a year in Oz , i cannot find anything that states that they can keep re-entering on that visa but 2 agents now are informing them they can, like you said there is a expiry date on that visa and i would think that would be the latest date in which they can enter oz

[Guest Gollywobbler]

my parents visa is a 12 month tourist visa it expires 12th march 2011 , they are intending to return to u.k. and re- enter oz before that date which i am sure will give them another 12 months on the same visa however after that they are hoping to spend 6 months a year in Oz , i cannot find anything that states that they can keep re-entering on that visa but 2 agents now are informing them they can, like you said there is a expiry date on that visa and i would think that would be the latest date in which they can enter oz

 

 

Hi rammie

 

All visitor and tourist visas are valid for 12 months, hun. Hence the importance of discovering the subclass number of the exact visa that we are talking about. Please ask your parents to confirm the visa subclass involved.

 

Are your parents British and in the UK? It sounds as if they may well be? I'm asking because my mother is British and she had quite a few 12 month sc 676 tourist visas before she eventually obtained her sc 143 Contributory Parent visa instead.

 

It sounds to me as if your Parents have obtained subclass 676 tourist visas and that DIAC have decided to allow them to spend 6 months in Oz each time they enter Australia, but please check this and confirm.

 

If I am right, we had exactly the same situation at least 4 times with my widowed mother, who is British and she obtained all the sc 676 tourist visas whilst she was in the UK.

 

When the first such visa was granted,we could see that it allowed 6 months in Oz. So I got Mum a return flight with a fully flexi return date. Once Mum was in Oz, my sister took Mum's passport and went to the local DIAC office in Perth.

 

Elaine (my sister) was told as follows:

 

1. Mum could spend up to 6 months in Oz during that first visit.

 

2. Sometime around the six-month mark, Mum should go offshore for a week. The guy suggested Bali, Singapore and several other places close to Perth. He stressed that Mum did not have to return to the UK after 6 months.

 

3. After the short holiday outside Oz (the guy said that "short" means "a week") Mum should return to Perth. She would then get another stay of 6 months in Oz when the made the second entry.

 

4. The guy said that if we wanted, we could do this twice. so that Mum would get a total of about 17-18 months in Oz if we got the dates right. After the first visit she would go offshore for the short holiday. About 5 months into the second visit, Mum should go offshore again for another week or so. As long as the cut off date of dd/mm/yyyy had not arrived before Mum got back to Oz after the second short holiday offshore, Mum would get a third six months when she re-entered Oz.

 

My sister asked what on earth the purpose is of sending an elderly widow off on holiday to Thailand or somewhere? The guy said that the sole purpose is to prove that the elderly person is able to undertake fairly long journeys by air. If someone is elderly, their medical situation can change for the worse very dramatically if they are allowed to spend 12 months at a time in Oz and they might be too ill to leave Oz after a whole year in the place.

 

That's what he said but the bloke on the counter is only a poorly-paid clerk working for DIAC. Somebody who is elderly can become seriously ill within 6 weeks, let alone 6 months. S/he might suffer a heart-attack, a broken hip or whatever. I don't have any faith in the guy's claims to proving an ability to travel. I think he made that up on the spot, in order to answer the question. It sounded plausible to him so he trotted it out to my sister, I suspect.....

 

My sister, my Mum and I went into a huddle. We decided that the first holiday offshore was a good idea. Mum is a good 70% wheelchair bound so she can't go on holiday anywhere on her own unless either I or my sister go with her. The best arrangement was for Elaine (my sister) to arrange a package holiday for a fortnight for Elaine, Mum, Elaine's hubby Neil and their two young sons. Doing that for a few years would ensure that Elaine got an annual break for at least a fortnight. I put my foot down and told Elaine to look at package holidays involving hotels, so that Elaine need not do any washing or cooking herself for the whole of the fortnight.

 

We decided not to use the idea of the second trip offshore. For one thing it would be too expensive for Elaine & family to go abroad for holidays twice in 12 months. I could do the second holiday instead and could meet Mum in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia.) I was born in Malaysia and brought up there until I was 20. Mum l& Dad lived in Malaysa from 1947 to 1976.

 

It would be too complicated to try to arrange a package tour from Perth for Mum that would dovetail with the same package from the UK for me. Even if there are any, it would be a nightmare to arrange it, no doubt. However Mum is the Secret Weapon. She knew loads of people in Malaysia and she speaks fluent Malay. If we met up in Malaysia, Mum & I would be able to sort ourselves out for a couple of weeks. We both know Malaysia very well indeed and local knowledge counts for an enormous amount on a casual trip when nothing is booked in advance except the plane tickets. Added to which, I love Malaysia so any excuse to re-visit is a good enough excuse for a longish flight to and from the UK as far as I am concerned.

 

That bit could be made to work OK as well. However we didn't do it in the end. Sooner or later Mum would need to return to the UK and when she did, she would need to get another sc 676 visa for Oz. If we managed to p*ss DIAC right off by taking a mile when they had only offered an inch, we would have ourselves only to blame if they then became difficult about granting another sc 676 visa later on.

 

I would be nafling annoyed if somebody told me they were coming for tea but turned up bag & baggage and the expectation of staying in my spare room for 3 months. I'd be goddamned livid with them if they were still hanging about after 3 days. At 3 weeks I'd go mental and send the visitor home. I just wouldn't put up with 3 months if I had been told 3 hours and nothing else beforehand.

 

I have a British friend who does this in the UK. He's coming for "the weekend" so he says. When he turns up, it turns out that he has excuses for spending 10 days at least under my roof. He wants to do this, that and the other whilst he is in this area apparently. Nearly all of it at my firkin expense, I might add!

 

I've given up on him. If he wants a bed, I make excuses nowadays. I've been caught enough times and enough is enough.

 

We were not prepared to risk DIAC becoming annoyed with us in the same way so we decided to put up with getting new sc 676 visas more or less every 15-18 months instead.

 

Does this help?

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Happy Lass]

Hi Rammie,

You should check the visa grant letter or e-mail for words along the lines of

 

The Subclass 676 Tourist visa allows the visa holder to travel to and enter Australia on more than 1 occasion until [date].

This was taken from the visa grant e-mail that I received in 2008 so the wording might have changed since then. If in doubt you can always ring the DIAC and check with them by telephone.

 

Theoretically you could get up to 2 years from the date your parents first arrive on this kind of visa as long as their last re-entry date falls before the expiry date given in the visa grant letter. If you cannot find anything akin to the words quoted above then they probably don't have the multiple entry version of this type of visa and will likely have to return to the UK to apply for a new one.

 

Good on your parents for making the trip all the way to Australia to see you in their 70s. I bet you will be very happy to see them and I hope they have a safe trip over and wonderful time when they get here. :smile:

 

Edited to add: I must say that I found the multiple entry part of the tourist visa to be quite a pain in practice and as Gill said, quite worrying because you just don't know what will happen and whether the DIAC will be sympathetic to any changes in your situation. If your parents are in good health, have hopes of, for example, coming over to stay with you for 6 months then heading off for a cruise for a few weeks then another few months stay with you then it's definitely very handy to have that permission for multiple entries.