When Alec and Margaret Vella got the final $87,000 bill for their visa application last month it seemed like their wait to become permanent residents was almost over.
The elderly couple from South Africa, aged 78 and 72, had applied for one of Australia's most expensive visas back in 2016 – the contributory parent visa.
The visa would allow them to spend their final years in Perth with their four sons and eight grandchildren.
Despite the eye-watering price – at $46,300 each - Mr and Mrs Vella applied for the visa type specifically because it had a relatively short waiting time, their son Daniel Vella told nine.com.au.
"They were desperate to come out and be with their family. We were told at the time it would be about 18 months, but it's been dragging on and on, and now it's been more than four-and-a-half years," he said.
Working to the 18-month time frame, Mr and Mrs Vella sold their home in South Africa, packed up their lives and moved to Perth in 2017. As the wait continued, the couple needed to fly out of Australia every three months to renew their visitor visas.
Since the pandemic hit, they've been staying in the country on bridging visas which expire in February.
So, when they got the notice from the Department of Home Affairs in November telling them they needed to pay the $87,000 within 28 days, the family took it as a sign the parent visas were finally in sight.
But along with the bill came a final sting in the tail.
Mr and Mrs Vella were also told they needed to provide "proof of exit" from the country "within a reasonable timeframe".
International travel ban and COVID-19 pandemic aside, Mr and Mrs Vella need to leave the country in order for their visas to be approved.
That is because under Australian migration law, people who lodge a parent visa application overseas have to be offshore to have their visa granted.
In an email yesterday from the Department of Home Affairs, the couple was told if they did not fly overseas within three months, their visa application could be refused.
Mr Vella said he was stunned his elderly parents were being told to fly overseas during the pandemic.
"It's ridiculous. Here we have a government who are saying do not travel, there is an international travel ban, but my parents are aged 78 and 72 and they are being told they need to leave the country," Mr Vella said.
Last week, nine.com.au reported on the thousands applying for partner visas who were also being caught up in the same bureaucratic visa nightmare.
Partners were being forced to take risky and expensive flights during a pandemic, plus taking up a place in hotel quarantine, just to get their visas approved, Labor MP Julian Hill said.
In response, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge announced on Monday "temporary concessions" would be made from early next year for some types of family visa applicants – including partners – to allow them to stay in Australia while their visa is granted.
However, the concessions do not cover parent visas, a spokesperson for Mr Tudge confirmed, as parents "are not considered immediate family members".
Mr Vella said he was worried for his parent's safety if they had to fly out during the pandemic.
"Where can they go? They may well get stuck in a foreign country for months as we have seen with many Australians stranded overseas," he said.
"What if they contracted COVID-19 overseas and ended up in hospital or heaven forbid they end up dying?
"There is also the massive additional cost of having to quarantine in a hotel if they were in fact able to return to Perth."
Mr Vella said in addition to the $87,000 visa fee, his parents had also paid a $14,000 bond through Centrelink earlier this year to cover any future medical claims they might make.
"We have also signed sureties that they will never become a burden on the state and we would look after them," he said.
All up, Mr Vella said he estimated the total cost of his parents' visas would add up to about $140,000.
While they went in knowing how much the visas would cost, they had expected a far smoother process, he said.
"I would describe it as having been horrendous really," Mr Vella said.
"There is no compassion….my parents have no home to go back to in South Africa. They are almost rendered stateless at the moment.
"And now asking them to leave the country during the pandemic. It's just the final nail in what's been a terribly stressful, long-winded process."
Visa changes a 'piecemeal approach', Labor says
Mr Hill said Mr Tudge's temporary concessions for partner visas should also have been extended to parent visas.
"They fixed that partner visa problem but it's a piecemeal approach. They are still excluding thousands of parents, saying they should fly overseas in the middle of the global pandemic, it's madness," Mr Hill said.
Mr Hill said he believed the government had rushed through the changes in response to negative media attention and also ahead of a private member's bill on the issue he introduced to parliament yesterday.
While yesterday's private member's bill only dealt with partner visas, Mr Hill said he was willing to introduce another bill calling for amendments to the Migration Act for parent visas, if the government did not intervene.
"People across Australia have asked me to introduce a similar bill to fix the contributory parent visa problem, which I will do if the minister doesn't act this week."
A spokesperson for Mr Tudge said: "The announcement of the temporary onshore grant concession is for immediate family members who are in Australia and are not able to travel offshore to be granted the visa due to COVID-19 related border closures."
"The parent cohort has not been included in this concession as applicants are not considered to be immediate family members.
"The Department of Home Affairs takes disruptions arising from the pandemic into account when considering visa applications and visa applicants will be given additional time to complete the necessary requirements."
Contact reporter Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au.
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