Category Archives: 870 visas

Parent visas – The number of visas granted to date

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Following a Freedom of Information request we have received the following information from the Department of Home Affairs regarding the number of parent visas granted during the current program year through to the end of February 2024 – ie from 1 July 2023 to 29 Feb 2024.

  Number Granted Number Refused
Contributory Parent Visas (CPVs) 4,624 308
Non Contributory Parent Visas 1,231 203
Subclass 870, Sponsored Parent Temporary 2,672 70

The parent visa program planning level (which excludes subclass 870) for the year to 30 June 2024 is for 8,500 visa grants, so if this is to be achieved there are some 2,624 parent visas available for grant in the 4 months to the end of June 2024.

In recent years there has been a tendency for the number of parent visas granted during a program year to come in at a few hundred less than the planning level – watch this blog for the actual numbers for the full year in the coming months.

Renewing Subclass 870 Visas – The 90 Day Conundrum

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Many individuals apply for subclass 870 Sponsored Parent Temporary visas while they are waiting for permanent residency visas to be granted under subclass 143, Contributory Parent.

Subclass 870 visas are granted with a 3 year or a 5 year validity.

With processing times for subclass 143 visa applications now taking substantially longer than was anticipated when the applications were lodged – and was indicated by the Department of Home Affairs at that time – subclass 870 visa holders are now having to renew the visa because their permanent residency visa is not going to be granted within the validity period of their present 870 visa.

A practical problem facing those intending to renew their 870 visa is the need for most to be outside Australia for at least 90 days before applying.

This is what the Migration Regulations relevantly say:

870.223

(1)  If:

(a) the applicant is outside Australia at the time of application; and

(b) the applicant previously held a Subclass 870 visa; and

(c) there are no exceptional circumstances;

the applicant has been outside Australia for at least 90 consecutive days since the relevant departure day of the applicant.

(2)  The relevant departure day of an applicant is:

(a) if the applicant was in Australia when the last Subclass 870 visa held by the applicant ceased to be in effect—the first day on which the applicant left Australia after that visa ceased to be in effect; or

(b) if the applicant was not in Australia when the last Subclass 870 visa held by the applicant ceased to be in effect—the last day on which the applicant left Australia while that visa was in effect.

Permissions to apply onshore – ie when in Australia – for an initial subclass 870 visa were being approved during the Covid period when the border was closed.

However, such permissions are no longer being approved generally.

Department of Home Affairs policy guidance in this regard says:

Permission may be given to apply while in Australia in exceptional circumstances, such as an accident or serious illness which means the person cannot depart Australia to apply outside Australia.

There are no criteria in the Regulations in relation to approval of requests for permission to apply in Australia. The Minister has an unfettered discretion to give permission and all requests for permission must be considered on their merits. However, as indicated above, the policy intention is that permission will only be granted in exceptional cases, which would usually be where the parent is unable to depart Australia. The general expectation is that parents must apply for the Subclass 870 visa from outside Australia.

A request for permission to apply in Australia may be approved if the parent is unable to depart Australia, due to, for example:

  • an accident or serious illness (there should be medical evidence provided with the request); or
  • a natural disaster preventing travel to parent’s home country (e.g. ongoing ash cloud due to a volcanic eruption, pandemic or war).

On the other hand, a request for permission to apply in Australia should generally not be approved if the only reason for the request is that:

  • the parent does not want to travel overseas because of the cost and inconvenience including situations where a prospective visa applicant would simply prefer to remain in Australia for family related reasons (eg because a family member is due to give birth). In this case it is the responsibility of the parent to apply for and be granted a different visa if they seek to remain in Australia, before departing and re-applying for a further temporary parent visa offshore;
  • departure of the parent is not convenient for the sponsor;
  • the prospective visa applicant has sold their assets in their home country, and set themselves up in Australia in anticipation of being able to apply for and be granted another visa without leaving Australia;
  • the prospective visa applicant has failed to meet the permanent visa health requirement in relation to another visa application

A request for permission to apply in Australia should be supplemented with detailed information outlining the circumstances that are relevant to the request. 

A question to be asked by those whose subclass 870 visa is about to expire is therefore: do I need another subclass 870 visa?

Key to answering this is the reasonably expected timeline for the subclass 143 visa to be granted.

In this regard our contributory parent visa processing time calculator may be helpful to provide an indicative timeline of when the subclass 143 visa will be granted.

If there is a reasonable expectation of subclass 143 visa grant within 12 to 15 months of your subclass 870 visa expiring and you want to spend substantially all of that time in Australia you might reasonably look to a 12 month visitor visa under subclass 600.

If the processing time for the 143 visa grant is longer than this and you cannot leverage the exceptional circumstances provisions discussed above you should plan to have an extended holiday outside Australia of at least 3 months.

The sponsor application would be prepared in the last few weeks of one’s time in Australia – recall here that a new family sponsor approval application cannot be submitted while an existing family sponsorship is ongoing.

Family sponsorships are presently taking some 6 to 8 weeks to be approved.

The subclass 870 visa application would then be lodged, after which one can return to Australia on (say) a 3 month visitor visa (subclass e651, if available) while awaiting a decision on the 870 visa application.

Remember than you can be in Australia when a subclass 870 visa is granted.

At the moment visa applications under subclass 870 are also taking 6 to 8 weeks to be processed to a decision.

Clearly there are several logistical issues to address in this situation.  

Go Matilda Parent Visas will be delighted to support existing subclass 870 visa holders who need help renewing their subclass 870 visas.

Please complete the enquiry form on this web page if you think you will need help with your subclass 870 visa renewal and would like a free initial chat.

 

 

Subclass 870 visa applications: The latest statistics from Go Matilda Visas

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We regularly make enquiry of the Australian Government to obtain details of parent visa applications in an effort to better understand what is happening with processing.

In this blog we provide details – see the table that can be downloaded below – of subclass 870 visa applications that are on hand at the Department of Home Affairs.

In summary, as at 17 August 2022 there were 1,087 x subclass 870 visa applications lodged with the Department where the visa application had been received on or before 31 July 2022.

Legislation allows for the granting of 15,000 of these visas during each program year to 30 June.

We therefore consider there is plenty of scope for current and intending applicants to be granted subclass 870 visas – any delay in these visas being granted is not due to the cap on the number of visas.

Rather, we believe that any delay in processing these visas to a decision is a function of information not being delivered to the Department by visa applicants – we believe this is likely to account for visa applications that are more than 6 months old.

The remainder – from roughly March 2022 onwards – appear to reflect the resourcing of processing at the Department.

Indeed, it appears that if the Department is minded to allocate resources to quickly facilitate the granting of all the subclass 870 visa applications presently on hand we consider there will still be a significant number of visas available to accommodate subclass 870 visa applications that are submitted over the coming months, given the annual ceiling on subclass 870 visas of 15,000.

Parents – subclass 870 visa applications – on hand up to 31 July 2022 – at 17 August 2022

Go Matilda Visas is a proactive Australian visa advisory practice.    We have been helping parents apply for visas for over 20 years and are committed to supporting our parent visa clients with visa strategy and their visa applications so they can be reunited with their children.

If you are a parent with a child or children living in Australia and want help with a current or planned parent visa application please complete the enquiry form on this page.

We’ll be pleased to have a free initial conversation about your situation, after which we can send a no obligation fee proposal to you.

 

Subclass 870 Visa Holders – Condition 8501 – Requirement to Maintain Health Insurance – RHCA Relaxation

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Condition 8501 is required to be included on all subclass 870 Sponsored Parent Temporary Visas.  

This condition requires the visa holder to maintain adequate health insurance for the duration of their stay in Australia.

However, Department of Home Affairs policy guidance provides a relaxation for those who can access Medicare under a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA).

At the current time Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (RHCAs) with eleven countries, being the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia and the Republic of Ireland.

The provisions of RHCAs vary, and frequently entitle residents of these countries to obtain a RHCA-specific Medicare card and to receive access to limited subsidised health services for medically necessary treatment while visiting Australia.

It should be noted that simply being a citizen of a country that has a RHCA with Australia may not necessarily entitle a person to access Medicare –  Services Australia is responsible for determining a person’s eligibility to enrol in Medicare under a RHCA.

Importantly for subclass 870 visa holders who have arrived in Australia from a RHCA country if the 870 visa holder has enrolled with Medicare and holds a valid Medicare card issued under a RHCA the Department considers they meet the minimum requirements for adequate arrangements for health insurance given the RHCA covers the visa holder for the entirety of their stay in Australia.

Individuals who have not yet enrolled in Medicare under a RHCA must obtain private health insurance even if they are entitled to Medicare.

In other words private health insurance must be maintained by a subclass 870 visa holder while in Australia until s/he has enrolled in the Medicare system under the applicable RHCA.

A couple of specific additional points:

  • Citizens of the Republic of Ireland are not eligible to receive a Medicare card but can access certain Medicare services by presenting their passport. Therefore, for citizens of the Republic of Ireland, the Department considers that evidence of an Irish passport is sufficient to meet the requirement for adequate health insurance.
  • Those who are residents and citizens of Malta or Italy are eligible for a reciprocal Medicare card only for the first six months of their stay in Australia.  This is sufficient to meet the requirement to have adequate arrangements for health insurance at the visa application stage, but these persons will need to make adequate arrangements for health insurance once they cease to be eligible for reciprocal health care to satisfy condition 8501.

 

Subclass 870 visa renewals – The need to be outside Australia – Visa strategy for subclass 870 visa holders

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The first subclass 870 Sponsored Parent Temporary Visas were granted almost 3 years ago.   With the validity of these visas coming to an end and the processing time for subclass 143 visas extending significantly beyond what was expected when the first SPTVs were granted thoughts are now turning to the requirements for subclass 870 visa renewals – including most notably the need to be offshore (outside Australia) for a period of time.

Underpinning the requirements for the granting of visas generally is legislation (ie the law) and Department of Home Affairs policy guidance.

Relevantly, the Migration Regulations say in the time of application requirements for subclass 870 visas:

870.223

(1)  If:

(a) the applicant is outside Australia at the time of application; and

(b) the applicant previously held a Subclass 870 visa; and

(c) there are no exceptional circumstances;

the applicant has been outside Australia for at least 90 consecutive days since the relevant departure day of the applicant.

(2)  The relevant departure day of an applicant is:

(a) if the applicant was in Australia when the last Subclass 870 visa held by the applicant ceased to be in effect—the first day on which the applicant left Australia after that visa ceased to be in effect; or

(b) if the applicant was not in Australia when the last Subclass 870 visa held by the applicant ceased to be in effect—the last day on which the applicant left Australia while that visa was in effect.

The key to not departing Australia is therefore whether one can argue “exceptional circumstances.”

In this regard we have been advised by the Department as follows:

As a temporary visa, the SPTV does not provide a right to remain in Australia permanently. Clause 870.223 gives effect to the policy intention that an applicant must be outside Australia for at least 90 consecutive days before making an application for a second SPTV.

 If a SPTV holder is unable to depart Australia prior to the expiry of their visa, a sponsor can request that the visa holder be permitted to apply for a further SPTV in Australia, or they can apply for an alternative visa to maintain lawful status.

It should also be noted that Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations 1994 says that: “… an applicant for a subclass 870 visa cannot be the holder of an 870 visa at the time the visa application is submitted.”

This means that an application for a further subclass 870 visa if an existing 870 visa is currently in effect will be an invalid application.

If one wants to remain in Australia upon the expiry of an existing 870 visa and is to seek a renewal 870 visa another visa will therefore be required between the two subclass 870 visas.

This might be – say – an onshore visitor visa (subclass 600), or a student visa (subclass 500).

Key in this regard is avoiding the inclusion of condition 8503 No Further Stay on the visa.

A condition 8503 prevents an application for another visa being submitted while in Australia.

Note: The Department of Home Affairs has announced a concession due to COVID restrictions on the ability to enter Australia.

If you held a Sponsored Parent Temporary Visa (subclass 870) and were outside Australia on 1 July 2021 your visa period has been automatically extended by 18 months.

This concession aims to assist SPTV holders who could not spend the full 3 or 5 years on their visa in Australia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

If your visa was extended under this concession, the additional 18 months will not count toward your cumulative 10 year maximum stay period.

Sponsorship obligations for SPTV Sponsors have also been extended for the same 18 month period.

Comments:

Visa strategy and a consideration of timing are going to become key issues for parents who have subclass 870 visas.  

With a need for approval of the sponsor required before the 870 visa renewal application can be lodged there are real risks here for those who don’t understand the requirements and plan accordingly.

We foresee subclass 870 visa holders going through the distress and upset of having to depart Australia at short notice, or becoming unlawful – ie staying in Australia after the expiry of the 870 visa and not having applied for a further visa that will allow them to remain in Australia.

Many parents who hold subclass 870 visas have bought homes in Australia/have long term rental commitments for their homes, and have brought their personal wealth to Australia in anticipation of their application for permanent residency visas under subclass 143 visa (Contributory Parent) being processed on the basis of timelines advised on the website of the Department of Home Affairs.

As readers of this blog will know, these timelines are backward looking, and do not bear any resemblance to the actual timeline one should expect given the number of visa applications in the system and the number of visas being granted annually.

Details of visa processing times for parents are available here.

We strongly recommend that subclass 870 visa holders take active steps 6 to 12 months before the expiry of their visa to consider their visa strategy and what should be done to ensure there is no interruption in their ability to remain in Australia.

Go Matilda Visas is actively involved in advising parents as to their visa strategies, the preparation of parent visa applications, and the management of parent visa applications to a decision.  

If you require help and support we invite you to complete the enquiry form on this web page.