Family Stream Visas

Family stream migrants are selected on the basis of their family relationship with their sponsor in Australia. There is no test for skills or language ability as for skilled stream migrants.

The Family Migration Program consists of four main categories:

1. Partner

   • Spouse: the husband, wife or de facto partner of the Australian sponsor
   • Prospective Marriage: a fiance(e) overseas who plans to marry their Australian sponsor in Australia, and
   • Interdependency: a person in an interdependent (same sex) relationship with an Australian partner involving a mutual commitment to a shared life together.

2. Child

   • Dependent child: the natural, adopted or stepchild of the Australian sponsor
   • Adopted child: a child adopted overseas, and
   • Orphan relative: an unmarried child under 18 years at the time of application who cannot be cared for by either parent.

3. Parent

   There are two visa categories for parents wishing to migrate to Australia:

   • the parent category, and
   • the contributory parent category.

   The differences between the two categories are that:

   • the contributory parent category has more visa places available each migration program year, and
   • by applying for a contributory parent visa, parents choose to make a substantially higher contribution to their future health and welfare costs.

   To apply for a visa in the parent or contributory parent category, an applicant must be the parent of a child who is a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.

   'Settled' means a person must have been resident in Australia for a reasonable period, usually two years.

4. Other family

   • Aged Dependent Relative: single, widowed, divorced or formally separated person who is dependent on an Australian relative
   • Remaining Relative: a person who has no close family ties outside Australia and is the brother, sister, child or step equivalent of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, and
   • Carer: a person willing and able to give substantial, continuing assistance to an Australian relative or member of their family who has a medical condition that impairs their ability to attend to the practical aspects of daily life. The need for assistance must be likely to continue for at least two years.

Sponsorship

All family stream migrants, whether they apply within or outside Australia, must be sponsored by a close family relative, partner or fiance(e) (as applicable for the category).

The sponsor must be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen and would usually be 18 years of age or older.

• Partner applicants must be sponsored by their partner (or a parent or guardian of their partner if their partner is under 18)
• Child applicants must be sponsored by a parent or relative, or that person's cohabiting spouse
• Parent applicants must be sponsored, generally by their child (natural, adopted or stepchild), and
• Other family applicants must be sponsored by a relative.

Note that Australian permanent resident sponsors of parent, other family and certain child applicants must be usually resident in Australia.

Limitations on sponsorship

For people sponsoring a spouse, fiance(e) or interdependent partner, there are limits on the number of sponsorships they may make, and the timeframe in which they may be made.

A person who entered Australia as a remaining relative or a person who previously sponsored a remaining relative cannot sponsor another person as a remaining relative.

Assurance of Support

An Assurance of Support (AoS) is a legal commitment by a person to repay to the Commonwealth of Australia any recoverable social security payments made by Centrelink to those covered by the assurance.

An AoS is also a commitment to provide financial support to the person applying to migrate, so that they will not have to rely on any government forms of support.

Some family stream applicants are subject to a required (mandatory) AoS. Other applicants may be subject to a discretionary AoS if assessed as being at risk of becoming a charge on Australia’s welfare system.

On 1 July 2004, Centrelink assumed responsibility for all AoS assessments.

Health and character requirements

Like all migrants, family stream applicants are assessed on an individual basis and they MUST be assessed against Australia’s health and character requirements.

Capping visa classes

A number of visa classes in the family stream can be subject to 'capping'.

'Capping' means that once the number of visas set by the Minister for a visa class for a program year has been reached, no further visas can be granted in that class in that program year.

Within the partner category, Spouse visas cannot be capped. However, Prospective Marriage (fiance(e)) and Interdependency visas may be subject to capping.

Child visas (including Dependent Child, Orphan Relative and Adopted Child) cannot be capped.

The parent and contributory parent categories are subject to capping.

The other family category visas (including Aged Dependent Relative, Remaining Relative and Carer) may be subject to capping.

Change in circumstances

There are specific provisions under migration legislation limiting opportunities for unsuccessful applicants in Australia to apply again for a visa while still in Australia.

This is to ensure that people do not continue to make applications solely to delay their departure from Australia.

People who are unlawful in Australia, or no longer hold a valid visa, and who have previously been refused a visa or had a visa cancelled, have the opportunity to make an application for a limited range of visas.

This limited range provides for situations where circumstances have changed since that refusal or cancellation. In the family stream categories, a person may be eligible to apply to remain in Australia as a permanent resident only on grounds of being an orphan relative or a dependent child, provided that circumstances have changed since the refusal of their last application.

Note: Spouse visas are deliberately excluded from these arrangements. This is to prevent people who have been refused a visa from being able to use marriage to an Australian as a means of either delaying their departure or obtaining residence.

Processing priorities

The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs has issued a Direction for migration officers giving guidance on the order of priority for processing family stream applications.

Applications to be given the highest processing priority include dependent children (including orphan relatives and children for adoption), spouses, fiance(e)s and interdependent partners.

Lower priority is given to all other family stream applicants such as carers, parents, aged dependent relatives and remaining relatives. Within the parent visa categories, the contributory parent category has a higher processing priority than the parent category.

Please contact us for detailed information from our Australian immigration consultants, or click here for a free Australian immigration assessment.