Australian citizens and permanent residents wanting to bring their parents of families here on a range of visas repealed earlier this year will be overjoyed to know that the Australian Senate voted on a disallowance motion, to stop government from repealing several types of family visas.
This means that the following visas have been saved from being culled at least for now:
- Parent visa (Subclass 103)
- Aged Parent visa (Subclass 804)
- Aged Dependent Relative visa (Subclass 114 and 838)
- Remaining Relative visa (Subclass 115 and 835)
- Carer visa (Subclass 116 and 836)
Prior to the 2nd June repeal these visas allowed Australian permanent residents or citizens to sponsor their parents and dependent relatives to come to Australia or, in the case of a carer visa, to sponsor a relative to care for them if they have a long-term or permanent medical condition.
IMMIGRATIONews spoke to Noah Schultz-Byard from the Greens who exclaimed jubilantly; "The disallowance motion has gone through, we are very happy for the thousands of families that this motion will help re-unite."
Greens' Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said "The Senate has voted to keep families living together and looking after each other in Australia. The Abbott government should never have scrapped these essential visas, which only serve to keep families together,"
We also spoke to Arun from India who had earlier expressed his utter shock at the cessation of these visas in Volume 309. He says "I am utterly delighted and thankful to those who took this up at the senate, happy to know that people still care. The repeal ensured that re-uniting families was just something the rich could afford but this successful disallowance motion gives hope to the rest of us. The overnight repeal caught me off guard but this time I will act quickly before any more changes occur"
As Khanh Hoang, Associate Lecturer at ANU College of Law wrote in his piece for The Conversation; "Even apart from lacking compassion for families, this is a short-sighted approach to immigration policy. It ignores the significant, but indirect, contribution that carers and parents make to the Australian economy. In the long run, the repeal of these visas is likely to result in a net loss for Australia."
For now this is a respite for the families whose only option were these visas, how long it is before another repeal or worse takes place is anyone's guess.
