Parents moving - checking understanding

[Guest NeilEB]

So, my wife and I are hoping to move down under, and once we're settled she would like the option of her parents moving as well (she has a brother in the UK, so satisfies the 'half your children' rule).

 

Now as I understand it there are 2 options:

 

Contributory, which would cost about $75,000 and has a ~2 year wait?

Non-contributory which costs around $5,000 but can take 10 years?

 

If neither of these are 'acceptable', where do we stand if they want to come and live in Oz for 6 months at a time? Note they wouldn't be working, and I assume would have travel insurance etc, but would they be able to keep getting visas? Or is there a limit?

 

Note: when I say 6 months at a time, I mean spending 6 months in the UK, 6 months in Oz, 6 months in the UK etc.

 

Just wondering what the options are really.

[Quoll]

My parents did the 6 month thing for 15 years (October to March here) when they retired and they had a ball - one long summer of playing golf until they got to 80 and decided that the trip was getting a bit too much for them. They built a granny flat on our block on their first visit and bought a car which they left with us when they went home in March each year. They didnt have any trouble getting visas and of course they couldnt work but they both did volunteer work while they were here.