Wednesday 29 October 2014

Different Channels to Bring Your Family Members to Australia

Australia is multicultural community. Credit for this rich culturally diversity primarily goes to the welcoming immigration policy of the country. Additionally, ample job opportunities, world-class education system and high standard of living attract foreign nationals to the country. According to a recent survey, a good percentage of immigrants are leading a successful life in Australia. This gives immigrants another reason to move into Australia with their families on permanent basis.

The government of Australia provides a number of visas that allow immigrants, as well as native Australians, to bring their family members to live in Australia with them. For all these Australia visa categories, eligible family members, who are living in Australia lawfully for at least last two years, sponsor their close relatives to migrate to Australia. The government of Australia considers an Australian citizen, a permanent resident and an eligible New Zealand citizen to be a valid sponsor.

Here is an overview of each of the channels through which you can bring your family members to Australia.

Spouse/ Partner Visas

A Partner visa allows you to bring your spouse or refactor partner to Australia to live with you as a permanent resident of Australia. There are two streams under Partner visa depending upon whether your spouse or partner is in Australia or outside. Under both streams, your partner will be first granted a temporary Partner visa until the permanent Partner visa is decided

Child Visas

Eligible sponsors can bring their biological, step and adopted children, as well as orphan relatives to Australia through this channel. For each visa stream under this channel, the child must be below 18 years of age and unmarried.

Parent Visas

The government of Australia allows its citizens and permanent residents to bring their parents to Australia through different parent visas, namely Aged Parent Visa, Parent Visa and Contributory Parent Visa. Each visa stream has its own norms depending on the nature of immigration, which the sponsoring child and sponsored parent must meet.

Marriage Visa

The Prospective Marriage visa allows Australian citizens and permanent residents to bring their prospective spouse to Australia for marriage. This visa itself is not a permanent residency visa; however, after marriage the foreign spouse becomes eligible to apply for a Partner visa. Interestingly, under this visa it is not necessary to perform the wedding ceremony in Australia.

Relative Visas

Relative visas allow eligible sponsors to bring their aged, dependent relatives or only remaining near relatives to Australia. For each Relative visa, there is a separate stream depending upon whether the applicant relative is in Australia or outside.

For each of these channels, both sponsors and applicants have to show a number of documents in order to prove that they meet all the necessary visa requirements. At times, the immigration process can be intriguing and tedious. Therefore, it is necessary to keep everything in order to avoid any delays in visa processing. Hiring a registered Australia visa consultant to expedite the process can be extremely useful.

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