Essay on Australia’s Visa System

For the client Shazina, at first the researcher wants to draw the attention to the fact that she is a 37 years old woman who has fled from her country and has come to Australia. She reached the country via boat and holds a Safe haven Enterprise (subclass 790) visa. This means she has fled from her hometown and has entered Australia illegally and is seeking protection from her home country. This safe haven Enterprise visa is only valid for 5 years and if she doesn’t apply for any subsequent visa in these 5 years then she has to be deported to her country again.

At present the visa is 3 years old. In the present scenario, Shazina has met Ahemed and has got married to her. Ahemad holds a Protection (Subclass 866) visa currently. The couple moved to Ballarat one months ago. Previously Shazina used to work in Barista Cafe in Melbourne but for now Shazina aims to work as a nurse in Melbourne as she has completed a Bachelor of Nursing degree from Federation University in Ballarat (Roberts, 2021).

As per the Safe haven Enterprise (subclass 790) visa Shazina is eligible for studying and working in Melbourne but only for 5 years (KANA, 2021). Out of these 5 years she has already cleared her 3rd year in the country. Thus, to be a permanent resident in the country Shazine has to apply for a subsequent visa.

Taking into consideration the Protection (Subclass 866) visa of Ahemed, Shazina’s visa option is Partner Visa (Subclass 820 and 801).

Partner Visa requires (As per the Migration Regulations 1994)

• A legal certificate of marriage under Australian law
• The relationship with the husband should be genuine and continuing for at least 12 months.
• And both should live together on a permanent basis.

Risk and difficulties with Partner Visa

According to the federal registration of legislation,

• After the partner visa gets approved and the couple decides on divorse both of the citizenship will be cancelled with immediate effect.
• The couple can also be penalised for such mistreatment.
• Sometimes the application may also get cancelled because of insufficient evidence of financial statements, social statements, nature of the household or the nature of the relationship (Bilombele, 2021). And in cases of De-facto relationship if there is a lack of any document the visa application straight away gets cancelled.

In the case of Shizana, she is eligible for a Partner Visa under New Zealand citizenship but the only drawback is that she visited the country via boat. Such candidates are often rejected for permanent citizenship as they have illegally entered the country. But Shizana has a SHEV visa which clarifies the doubts of migration and allows her to be a temporary citizen of Australia for now. Her husband’s visa gives her the support of finances, social and nature of the household statements and thus, there is a very less possibility of refusal of a Partner Visa in her case.

The Partner visa is a temporary one but one may apply for the subclass 801 application along with this application (“Migration Act 1958”, 2021). The subclass 801 will be a permanent visa which will allow Shizana to live happily in the country with her husband without any interruption. The cost for this application is AUD1310 for Prospective marriage that is the Subclass 300 visa hoarders and the others have to pay AUD 7850. It takes around 9 months to process this application. If Shazina agrees to pay the fees online via VISA CREDIT CARD then a surcharge of 1.40% is to be applicable on her fees (Akana, 2021). Her financial institution may reject the transaction because it will exceed her daily limits and thus, she needs to contact her institution before making the transaction to avoid disruption. The payment may take 48 hours to reflect on the statement if she agrees to contact her financial institution before making the transaction.

In my opinion, the best way for Shizana is to research her employment options and then make a collective decision with her husband to apply for a Partner Visa. The couple should thoroughly research the rules and regulations of the partner visa and then take their decision of applying. One the decision is made, Shizana should verify all her required documents and get them authorised to avoid any disruption. Shizana can apply online via the Australia Home affairs website. She may apply via Nomination too. This application can be done offline too but because of the pandemic and the guidelines I would suggest Shizana to make the application online. After applying she should immediately contact her financial institution as after approval of the application she will have to pay her visa fees which will exceed her daily transaction limits. Her documents should always be on check. Once the payment is settled she should rehearse well for her interview process. This is one of the crucial parts of the sanction of the application. All her as well as her husband’s documents should be clean to avoid rejection. Once the procedure is completed, they will have to wait for at least 6 months for the approval of the application. In the meanwhile if there is any confusion or problem in the documentation they must contact the Australian home affairs organisation for their help. This will be the best pathway for them to be a permanent resident in Australia.

In the case of Belle, she is a 68 years old widow who stays in the Philippines. She has lost her husband in a workplace accident. She is a retired school teacher and has two children named Akira and Rahi. Rahi used to stay with her but she has left for Malinia for large scale work. Akira being the elder son, looks after the expenses of her mother. Akira has an Australian Citizenship (subclass 600) and is a permanent citizen of the country. As Akira’s wife is pregnant, Belle is visiting her son on Tourist visa. She is eligible to stay for 3 months with her son under the tourist visa (Brandhorst et al., 2021). But after visiting the country she wishes to settle here permanently. By this, she will be with her son and his family. And, as she is an aged woman her son would be able to take care of her too. In this case Akira can apply for an aged visa for her mother and help her to settle in the country (“Migration Act 1958”, 2021).

Now, there are five visa options available for Belle. They are as follows-

Aged parent Visa under the subclass 804

This is a permanent visa which will allow the parent to settle in Australia under New zealand citizenship. One may apply for this visa from and outside Australia. This will require parent visa- queue release dates to process the application. Which means the sanction of this visa will take longer than usual to process. A fee of AUD 6490 is applicable for this visa (“Migration Act 1958”, 2021). With this visa, the applicant will receive a temporary concession while applying for further tourist visas.

Contributory Aged Parent Visa

This visa falls under subclass 864 and is more or less similar to that of Aged Parent visa. The perks and disadvantages remain the same. However, the fees change to AUD 47825. With this, one has to be present in Australia to apply for this visa.

Contributory parent Visa 

This visa falls under subclass 143. The benefits remain the same for this visa too. But the advantage of this visa is that the applicants can pay the visa fees in two installments as this is a costly visa. For this reason, few people opt for this visa. The fee for this visa is AUD 47825. Though the officials say that it will take almost 6 months for the sanction of this visa, generally the applicants receive the visa within three months of their application.

Parent visa

People who have more than one child residing in Australia often apply for this visa. Bella is also eligible for this visa as both of her children have Australian Citizenship but this is not the best option for her. This is so because her daughter Rahi often stays out of the country for employment purposes and she is only left with Akira in the country. The fee for this visa is AUD 6490 (“Migration Act 1958”, 2021). Again, this visa can take upto 30 years to get sanctioned.

Aged dependent relative Visa

This is also a permanent visa which allows a single aged person to reside in Australia if they rely on a relative for financial purposes who is already living in australia. For this application, the applicant should be present in the country while applying for this visa and also should be in the country when the visa is granted (Carlsson, 2021). Else he or she may lose the visa. Again, this visa has a waiting time more than that of 50 years of approval. The fee for this visa is AUD 6490.

No major risk is associated with these visas. Few visas may take longer to get approved. Other than this there is no risk associated with this visas. Perfect documentation will result in a section of the application. The other factors are completely in check for the visa approval (“Migration Act 1958”, 2021). And, if Bella or Akira pays the fees with their VISA cards then a surcharge of 1.40% will be applicable on her fees structure.

According to me the best pathway for Bella is to settle down with her son in Australia. She should apply for an Aged Parent Visa online and seek approval. I would like to recommend this visa because she is aged (64 years) and with this visa she would easily get a tourist visa to other countries too. This will help her to live with her son and will parally allow her to visit her daughter in Manila. This would also reduce her financial expenses. This visa will be cheap as compared to others and she will get this visa fast and easily. The only thing which Akira and her wife needs to take care of is her documentation and the interview procedure. They should also contact the financial institution beforehand for a smooth transaction.

References 

Akana, T., 2021. Insights from the Visa Payment Panel Study. The Routledge Handbook of FinTech, p.305.

Bilombele, A.P., 2021. Understanding perceptions of security threats to Australia: the case of refugees and asylum seekers (Doctoral dissertation, Curtin University).

Brandhorst, R., Baldassar, L. and Wilding, R., 2021. The need for a ‘migration turn’in aged care policy: a comparative study of Australian and German migration policies and their impact on migrant aged care. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(1), pp.249-266.

Carlsson, H., 2021. Migrants’ pathways to aged care: the role of local relationships of care in facilitating access for super-diverse older populations. Ageing & Society, pp.1-28.

KANA, M., 2021. Multiculturalism in Australia: Migration Policy and Its Economic Benefits. 中京英文学, 41(1), pp.60-81.

Migration Act 1958. (2021). Retrieved 25 September 2021, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00156

Roberts, R., 2021. ‘His visa is made of rubber’: tactics, risk and temporary moorings under conditions of multi-stage migration to Australia. Social & Cultural Geography, 22(3), pp.319-338.