Aged Parent (Residence) Visa (Subclass 804)

[Markrobbo]

Would my parents be able to work whilst on the bridging visa, I think you can apply to work but i wonder how strict they are on this, anyone got any experience on this subject.

 

Thanks

[Fisher1]

This is a great thread, thanks for posting

[Jim from Ormskirk]

Hi everyone,

This is not a reply, but a request for further info.

We are both receiving our UK pension. In Addition, much of my pension is in Pension 2. I understand that these will be frozen if we move to Oz. When does this happen: on granting of bridging visa, or on permanent residency.

Thanks

Jim

[johnbshepherd]

Sorry Jim but I only just noticed your post. Your UK pension unfortunately will be frozen from the time you get the bridging visa. The pensions people may not notice immediately but if you don't tell them they will almost certainly find out eventually and deduct all the back money (with cruel interest) from your ongoing pension. The one (not very) bright spot is that if you go back to the UK on a visit you will get the full pension while you are there - provided that you claim in advance.

 

Regards

 

John

[wrussell]

Any parents out there who can please answer my questions?

 

May I suggest that if you need migration advice you should consult a registered migration agent?

 

You might be able to muddle through by following what other applicants did, but possibly not to your best advantage.

 

when the Assurance of Support bond is required?

 

Before a visa is granted, similarly for police clearances and medicals.

[Sids Dad]

Maybe this will help, http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/family/aged/804/

 

Good luck with it.

[johnbshepherd]

Migration agents certainly perform a useful function, particularly for people who have a poor command of English and those who have complex cases. On a forum entitled PomsInOz I doubt if many people fall into the first category and the 804 visa is a particularly simple one, so the services of a migration agent will rarely be essential. As Sids Dad has already pointed out, everything important about the visa is explained in simple terms here. Forums such as this one and a parallel discussion on a sister site here allow people to exchange experiences and literally hundreds of people have found them useful.

 

Whether you want to use an agent is purely a matter of personal choice. If you do decide to use one it is as well to remember two things. The first is that migration agents are business people and like all business people they are in business to make money. According to the Migration Agents Registration Authority (Office of the MARA) the cost of consulting an agent about parent visas in 2012 was in the range $1,500 -$3,850. This seems to me to be an awful lot to pay for answers to straightforward questions such as those asked by Paulimouse.

 

The second thing is that the immigration department itself is less than enthusiastic about recommending the use of migration agents and suggests several cheaper alternatives. See here.

 

Incidentally, I am surprised that wrussell was not asked for police clearance and medicals until so late in the process. I was asked for them before I was even allocated a queue date not "before the visa was granted" (which has not yet happened). I will have to provide updated versions when I reach the head of the queue.

 

Regards

 

JBS

Edited March 5, 2013 by johnbshepherd
Typo

[MeCe]

Just applied for our 804 - sent Friday 5th April 2013, to be precise.

After reading this thread, I now wonder whether I should have, or should now, apply for police checks in UK? Does everyone have to apply for such checks, or just those that have run-ins with the law in the UK?

[Guest hels]

Hiya

Does anyone know the current time line for the parent visa onshore (804 i think) some have said 8 years, some 10, others 15. Id like an idea to advise my parents of before we start the process, selling up etc and the immi website just says long delays. Be great to hear from someone whos applied in the last year or two as to what eta they were given so we can prepare. Also i know theyd have to stay in Aus while its being processed etc but i wondered how strict they are if they wanted to leave Aus , ie holiday is a no but death or marraige is ok ?

thanks in advance

[mildygirl]

Hi MeCe

 

Just applied for our 804 - sent Friday 5th April 2013, to be precise.

After reading this thread, I now wonder whether I should have, or should now, apply for police checks in UK? Does everyone have to apply for such checks, or just those that have run-ins with the law in the UK?

 

My understanding (and experience) is that you will have to obtain up to date police checks once the Department gets round to looking at your application with a view to adding you officially to the queue (rather than in the midst of the applications, where you are at the moment). That means it is not a good idea to get police checks at the moment, as they will almost certainly be out of date by the time you are required to submit them. My mother in law applied in August/September 2010 for her 804. She heard nothing at all until just before Christmas 2012 when she was asked to supply Australian and UK police checks, and to arrange for her medical. The UK ones take around 3 - 4 weeks to come back, but there doesn't seem much to gain in sending off for them at your stage as you are almost certainly going to be asked to obtain new ones in about 2 to 2 1/2 years time - that's how long you are likely to have to wait for any communication from them, as things stand at the moment. And yes, it's everyone, not just who have fallen the wrong side of the law back in the UK - that's what DIAC wants to check! I hope this helps.

[MeCe]

After just one week, we have been granted a Bridging Aged Parent Visa (Class A), which if I read it right (and extensive reading on here and Google) gives us all the rights of a Permanent Resident whist we are in the queue for the final rubber stamp (except a pension - which we didn't expect anyway)

We are very chuffed!!

Thanks Australia for making so easy for us to be with our kids and grandchildren. Our kids are ecstatic!

 

Hi MeCe

 

 

 

My understanding (and experience) is that you will have to obtain up to date police checks once the Department gets round to looking at your application with a view to adding you officially to the queue (rather than in the midst of the applications, where you are at the moment). That means it is not a good idea to get police checks at the moment, as they will almost certainly be out of date by the time you are required to submit them. My mother in law applied in August/September 2010 for her 804. She heard nothing at all until just before Christmas 2012 when she was asked to supply Australian and UK police checks, and to arrange for her medical. The UK ones take around 3 - 4 weeks to come back, but there doesn't seem much to gain in sending off for them at your stage as you are almost certainly going to be asked to obtain new ones in about 2 to 2 1/2 years time - that's how long you are likely to have to wait for any communication from them, as things stand at the moment. And yes, it's everyone, not just who have fallen the wrong side of the law back in the UK - that's what DIAC wants to check! I hope this helps.

[MeCe]

Thanks MildyGirl.

I expect we have a few hurdles before that final rubber stamp falls.

But we are happy on the bridge.

[mildygirl]

After just one week, we have been granted a Bridging Aged Parent Visa (Class A), which if I read it right (and extensive reading on here and Google) gives us all the rights of a Permanent Resident whist we are in the queue for the final rubber stamp (except a pension - which we didn't expect anyway)

We are very chuffed!!

Thanks Australia for making so easy for us to be with our kids and grandchildren. Our kids are ecstatic!

 

Hi, MeCe!

 

I'm afraid that the bridging visa A is only a visa that allows you to stay in Australia once your tourist/visitor's visa has expired, while you are waiting for a decision to be made on your application. It's just the first part of the process, that applies to pretty much everyone, which maybe I should have explained in my earlier reply to you. My mother in law (along with everyone else who sends in an application for an 804 for example and needs to remain lawful) got a response very quickly to say she had been granted a bridging visa A. I don't want to sound like a wet blanket, because it does mean that you can expect a couple of years to elapse before anything else happens but it's too soon to cheer I'm sorry to say. However, it's not really part of the process of actually being granted an 804, it is literally just a visa that allows you to remain lawful while they get round to considering your application. I'm not sure about having 'all the rights of a PR?' You will be on a BVA for a couple of years or so, then they will actually pick up your application and look at it, and that's the point at which you will be asked to provide police checks, medicals etc. Once those are received and are satisfactory, you will be given a queue date and will then have to wait 5, 6, 8 years or whatever, for the final decision. I am sure one of the established members of this forum will jump in pretty quickly to explain if I've got something wrong!

[mildygirl]

Thanks MildyGirl.

I expect we have a few hurdles before that final rubber stamp falls.

But we are happy on the bridge.

 

Hi MeCe, not sure if my other message went through. I just need to re-iterate - BV A, doesn't mean you are in a queue for the Aged Parent Visa. It just means you have been granted an interim visa (A) to keep you lawful. ie it will take so long (2 or 2.5 years) for them to even pick up your application, that your initial visa will have expired and if they didn't give you a BV A, you would become unlawful. Just sit tight and enjoy the two years or more that you will have with your children before the real stuff begins! After that, provided all is well with police checks and medicals, you will go in the queue. Until then, I'm afraid you are 'just a number.'

[MeCe]

Hi MeCe, not sure if my other message went through. I just need to re-iterate - BV A, doesn't mean you are in a queue for the Aged Parent Visa. It just means you have been granted an interim visa (A) to keep you lawful. ie it will take so long (2 or 2.5 years) for them to even pick up your application, that your initial visa will have expired and if they didn't give you a BV A, you would become unlawful. Just sit tight and enjoy the two years or more that you will have with your children before the real stuff begins! After that, provided all is well with police checks and medicals, you will go in the queue. Until then, I'm afraid you are 'just a number.'

 

Thanks

Bit deflated about it but hey ho!

[mildygirl]

Thanks

Bit deflated about it but hey ho!

 

Just kick back and enjoy Australia, MeCe! Keep positive.... the real drama is when applicants have health issues - if the powers that be decide that your health (medication, medical treatment etc) is likely to cost Australia $35,000 (I believe that is the recently revised - upwards - figure) over a five year period (or a three year period if you are 75 or over) then they can, and probably will, turn you down on medical grounds. That's where we are at the moment - a 90 year old mother in law who is essentially extremely healthy and extremely agile, (doesn't wear specs and has all her own teeth! Not bad, eh?) but has one or two very mild issues with her heart.. they don't need medical attention, and probably don't even require any additional medication, but the chest X Ray flagged the problem up, so for the last four months we have been on the edge of our seats - she's had an echocardiogram and we are still waiting to hear whether they are satisfied, or whether she needs to see a specialist. Her BP medication is a cheap common drug, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that she will fall into the $35k threshhold.. we have to just keep positive, hoping that they will give her a queue date and won't try to pursue it anymore. All the best for your own applications, and enjoy our wonderful extended summer weather!

[MeCe]

Just kick back and enjoy Australia, MeCe! Keep positive.... the real drama is when applicants have health issues - if the powers that be decide that your health (medication, medical treatment etc) is likely to cost Australia $35,000 (I believe that is the recently revised - upwards - figure) over a five year period (or a three year period if you are 75 or over) then they can, and probably will, turn you down on medical grounds. That's where we are at the moment - a 90 year old mother in law who is essentially extremely healthy and extremely agile, (doesn't wear specs and has all her own teeth! Not bad, eh?) but has one or two very mild issues with her heart.. they don't need medical attention, and probably don't even require any additional medication, but the chest X Ray flagged the problem up, so for the last four months we have been on the edge of our seats - she's had an echocardiogram and we are still waiting to hear whether they are satisfied, or whether she needs to see a specialist. Her BP medication is a cheap common drug, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that she will fall into the $35k threshhold.. we have to just keep positive, hoping that they will give her a queue date and won't try to pursue it anymore. All the best for your own applications, and enjoy our wonderful extended summer weather!

 

Your mother-in-law sounds amazing. I do hope she gets through. Surely they would not ask her to leave at that age? Would she have somewhere, someone to go to in the worst case scenario? Is is possible for you to lodge a payment with the government to cover perceived medical expenses if they intend to turn her down?

[staffyfee]

Hi,

My father in law is diabetic, is this likely to lead to his refusal even if he is not the main visa applicant?

Thanks.

[Rupert]

Hi,

My father in law is diabetic, is this likely to lead to his refusal even if he is not the main visa applicant?

Thanks.

 

Being the main or secondary applicant is irrelevant.

 

However, I know people that have passed the medical as diabetics. But there never is one answer to these questions.

[johnbshepherd]

I promised to update people about our 804 application when anything happened. Well, we reached the head of the queue on September 10 this year. The queue date calculator had gone completely haywire - and still is. It has not moved since last June. At the time it alleged that there were 880 people still in front of us so we thought that we still had a year or two to wait and the final request for documents reached us in England where we were on holiday. As it turned out the Parent Visa Centre were very helpful and extended their deadline to allow us time to get back to Oz, Everything then went smoothly from then onward and we actually got the visas on December 16:biggrin:. We first applied in September 2006 so total waiting time was a shade over seven years. We did not use an agent. The final medical was much less daunting than we expected. We both got satisfactory reports despite having the usual ailments of people in their seventies. The biggest delay at the final stage was caused by Centrelink who took their time about approving our Assurance of Support. Given that the queue date calculator no longer works I suggest that anyone who had less than 1,000 people in front of them when it stopped working can expect to hear something within the next few months - the Parent Centre has now closed for Christmas.

 

Regards

[bouncingkanga]

Is this an offshore or onshore application? The procedures are different.

[johnbshepherd]

Is this an offshore or onshore application? The procedures are different.

 

This thread is about the 804 visa. There are no offshore applications for the 804. You must be physically present in Australia when you make the application (and also when you receive the visa).

 

See http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/804.aspx

 

Regards

Edited January 28, 2014 by johnbshepherd