FIVE YEARS TOURIST VISA

Tourist Visa extended up to Five years for parents of Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia.

People keeps on coming into the land of life down under to experience those so many great things associated with it. However, distance sometimes hinders the total exhilaration of some new residents of Australia. With this in mind, the Gillard Government came out to looking for a longer Tourist visa for parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents towards the end of 2012.

The Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, recently announced a case-by-case basis extension of stay for parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents granted of Tourist visas to visit Australia for a longer period of time. This is in quotation to Mr. Bowen MP announcement on September 4, 2012, “I know that many people are patiently waiting in the queue for a parent visa so we want to provide more generous tourist visa to enable regular extended family visas...”

In this new arrangement for parents Tourist visa, they maybe granted of:

- FIVE years Tourist visa validity providing a stay of up to 12 months on each entry to those parents who are located outside the country and are in a Parent (subclass 103) visa queue.
- THREE years Tourist visa validity with 12 months stay on each entry for parents who are located outside the country and are not in the Parent visa queue.

Under this arrangement, parents who meet all the possible requirements and criteria for this particular Tourist visa will enjoy their extended visits in Australia without needing to apply for a new visa on each entry.

Tourist visa holders will be subject to a visa condition limiting application for further visas while staying in the country. They must also hold a health insurance to cover any healthcare costs during their stay in Australia.

These changes made by the Gillard Government compliment the valuable role of parents in assisting their children or grandchildren in Australia.

Source: Australian Government “Department of Immigration and Citizenship”