Fact Sheet 29 - Overview of Family Stream Migration
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Australia’s Migration Program
The Migration Program has two main components — the skilled stream and the family stream.
The family stream had grown steadily from 31 310 visas in 1997-98 to 45 291 visas in 2005-06. However, over the same period, the family stream’s overall share of the Migration Program fell from 47 to 35 percent.
The 2005-06 family stream contained 29 776 spouse, 570 interdependent visas, 6038 fiancé visas, 2547 child visas (including adoption), 4500 parent visas and 1869 preferential and other family visas. (including orphan relatives).
The level for the family stream in 2006-07 is 46 000 visas, which represents 32 per cent of the total Migration Program (planned as 144 000 places).
This fact sheet gives a general overview of the requirements for family stream migration. More detailed information is available in other fact sheets which are cross-referenced in the following text.
Family stream categories
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 stream has of four main categories:
Partner
- Spouse: the husband, wife or de facto partner of the Australian sponsor
- Prospective Marriage: a fiancé overseas who plans to marry their Australian sponsor after travelling to Australia
- Interdependency: a person in an interdependent relationship with an Australian partner involving a mutual commitment to a shared life together.
See: Fact Sheet 30 Family Stream Migration – Partners.
Child
- Dependent child: the natural or adopted or stepchild of the Australian sponsor
- Adopted child: a child adopted overseas
- Orphan relative: an unmarried child under 18 years at the time of application who cannot be cared for by either parent.
See:
Fact Sheet 36 Adopting Children from Overseas
Fact Sheet 33 Family Stream Migration – Child.
Parent
There are two visa categories for parents wishing to migrate to Australia:
- the parent category
- 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
- applicants for a contributory parent visa pay a substantially higher second visa application charge and a larger Assurance of Support (AoS) bond (with a longer AoS period).
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.
See: Fact Sheet 31 Family Stream Migration – Parent Category
See: Fact Sheet 39 Contributory Parent Category visas
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 near relatives outside Australia and is the brother, sister, child or step equivalent of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen
- 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.
See: Fact Sheet 32 Family Stream Migration – Other Family
Sponsorship
All family stream migrants, whether they apply within or outside Australia, must be sponsored by a close family relative, partner or fiancé (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)
- 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
There are limits on the number of sponsorships people sponsoring a spouse, fiancé or interdependent partner, may make and on the timeframe in which they may be made.
See: Fact Sheet 30 Family Stream Migration – Partners.
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 Australian Government of 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 they are 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.
See: Fact Sheet 34 Assurance of Support.
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.
See:
Fact Sheet 22 The Health Requirement
Fact Sheet 79 The Character Requirement.
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 Migration Program year has been reached, no further visas can be granted in that class in that Migration Program year.
In the partner category, Spouse visas cannot be capped. However, Prospective Marriage (fiancé) 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. In the 2006-07 Migration Program year, there will be 1000 visa places available under the parent category and 3500 visa places available under the contributory parent category.
The other family category visas (including Aged Dependent Relative, Remaining Relative and Carer) may be subject to capping.
See: Fact Sheet 21 Managing the Migration Program.
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 ensures that people do not continue to make applications solely to delay their departure from Australia.
People who are unlawfully 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
Applications given the highest processing priority include dependent children (including orphan relatives and children for adoption), spouses, fiancés 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.
See: Fact Sheet 37 Processing Priorities.
The Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS)
Immigration advice and application assistance is provided to eligible applicants in Australia to prepare, lodge and present applications for visas. Assistance and advice is funded by the Australian Government at no cost to the applicant and is delivered by service providers throughout Australia.
See: Fact Sheet 63 Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme.
Further information is available on the department's web site.
See: www.immi.gov.au
The department also operates a national telephone service inquiry line.
Telephone: 131 881
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm (recorded information available outside these hours) for the cost of a local call anywhere in Australia.
Fact Sheet 29. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra.
Revised 27 April 2007.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2007.