{"id":77285,"date":"2026-08-21T08:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/77285\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T08:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T08:31:26","slug":"families-frustrated-at-government-changes-to-offshore-parent-visa-streams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/77285\/","title":{"rendered":"Families frustrated at government changes to offshore parent visa streams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy Hu was a single mother when she gave birth to her first daughter, so her own mother played an important role in raising the child.<\/p>\n

“I’m so very grateful to my mum,” Ms Hu said.<\/p>\n

“She helped me big time with my daughter.”<\/p>\n

Ms Hu, a Chinese Australian living in Brisbane, has since remarried and had a son in 2024.<\/p>\n

Her mother has again been very helpful, travelling between Australia and China to look after her and the baby.<\/p>\n

Every time her temporary visa expired, Ms Hu’s mother had to return to China and wait months before reapplying to visit Australia.<\/p>\n

Twice she paid for a temporary parent visa which cost more than $6,000 each.<\/p>\n

“My daughter was asking me all the time why her grandmother had to leave,” Ms Hu said.Parent visa applicants ageing and dying waiting in decades-long queues<\/a><\/p>\n

Migrant families are putting their lives on hold as they wait years and even decades to hear if their parents will be able to settle in Australia.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Ms Hu’s mother and father in China both applied for a contributory parent visa, which grants permanent residency for parents of Australian citizens, permanent residents, or eligible New Zealand citizens if the applicant agrees to pay more than $50,000.<\/p>\n

A non-contributory visa costs $8,665 but the wait time is much longer.<\/p>\n

Ms Hu’s parents were expecting to be granted their visas in 2027, but that has become uncertain.<\/p>\n

In late July, the Department of Home Affairs introduced a policy prioritising family visa applications lodged onshore over those lodged overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The changes affect not just parents but also other family-stream visas available to partners, children, parents and carers.<\/p>\n

Ms Hu started an online petition last week calling on the federal government to treat offshore visa applications fairly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It has since gained more than 1,600 signatures.<\/p>\n

Ms Hu said she felt decision-makers “do not care about the next generation”.<\/p>\n

“My children are all Australian citizens,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Am I supposed to tell my children that family is not important? Or grandparents are not important?”\"An<\/p>\n

Parents based overseas already face a long wait for their permanent visas to be granted. (AP: Andy Wong)<\/p>\n

A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told the ABC a ministerial direction that came into effect in July supported “targeted delivery of Australia’s 2026-27 Family Migration Program, including government’s commitment to prioritise applications from onshore migrants”.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said changes to the permanent migration program were made “to place downwards pressure on Net Overseas Migration (NOM)”.<\/p>\n

“Prioritising onshore applicants will help reduce wait times for migrants already living, working, and contributing to Australia,” they said.<\/p>\n

“Processing of parent visa applications has not paused.<\/p>\n

“[The] estimated processing times for the capped migration programs will be updated for 2026-27 in due course.”<\/p>\n

Before the July policy change, the estimated average processing times for parent visas lodged this year was 15 to 33 years, according to the Home Affairs website.<\/p>\n

There are now concerns that wait time could blow out.<\/p>\n

Fears wait time could be indefinite\"asian<\/p>\n

Evon Yu, right, says her mum and dad have already waited for seven years for their visas. (Supplied: Evon Yu)<\/p>\n

Evon Yu, one of the signatories of the petition, has also been affected by the policy change.<\/p>\n

Ms Yu moved to Sydney as an international student nearly 20 years ago and had been living apart from her parents in China since.<\/p>\n

Although she occasionally visits them, she finds it increasingly hard with work and a one-year-old child.<\/p>\n

“If they could come and live here, they would definitely help me a lot with child care,” she said, adding they would also be an emotional support.<\/p>\n

She feared the wait for her parents to join her in Australia could now become indefinite.<\/p>\n

Ms Yu said her family was also considering moving back to China if her parents were still waiting for their visas in three to five years’ time.<\/p>\n

Like Ms Hu’s parents, Ms Yu’s parents also applied for a contributory parent visa in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The initial application fee cost more than $8,000, and each applicant needs to pay a second instalment of $43,600 just before they are granted their visa.<\/p>\n

‘Multi-decade’ backlog<\/p>\n

Ms Yu said the policy change was just another example of Australia becoming less inclusive.<\/p>\n

“I know there are many reasons behind it, but it’s really unfair for all family visa applicants overseas,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s the parents, in my case. For others, it could be visas for their wives, husbands or children.”<\/p>\n

Behind the working holiday-makers’ visa applications pause<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s what you need to know about the working holiday maker visa applications that are being paused in 24 countries.<\/p>\n

An online petition calling for an improved visa processing system with reduced excessive waiting times for partner visas has also gained nearly 1,500 signatures.<\/p>\n

Australia has capped permanent family visas at 52,460 for the 2026-27 financial year.<\/p>\n

The allocation for parent visas is just 7,060 \u2014 the lowest number in a decade, excluding the pandemic period.<\/p>\n

The 2023 Review of the Migration System report found there was a “multi-decade” backlog of parent visas and “there have been several unsuccessful attempts to manage this backlog”.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the number of parent visas have been capped partially due to the cost on taxpayers.<\/p>\n

“A skilled migrant has a lifetime positive fiscal benefit of around $200,000,” it said.<\/p>\n

“A parent, on average, costs $400,000 over their lifetime due to their high use of government-funded services and limited taxes paid.”<\/p>\n

However, Ms Yu disagreed that parents like hers would be a burden on society.<\/p>\n

She said her parents had planned to invest their savings in Australia, which would contribute to the local economy.<\/p>\n

“My parents, like many others who applied overseas, they are not that old. They also have decent pension at home, and wouldn’t need money from Australia,” said Ms Yu, who works in the financial industry.<\/p>\n

“I think the economic contribution they might make to Australian society could actually exceed the social costs they incur.”<\/p>\n

‘Families need clarity’<\/p>\n

Rajwant Singh, a migration agent, said people who had been sitting in the queue for many years now faced an “uncertain future”.<\/p>\n

Mr Singh said he believed offshore parent visa applications would still be processed alongside onshore ones, but at a slower speed than before.<\/p>\n

\"Migration<\/p>\n

Migration Agent Rajwant Singh says affected families need clarity on the new policy. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“Affected families need clarity and reassurance \u2014 reassurance that no-one will be treated unfairly.”<\/p>\n

James Hammond, a migration lawyer, said he did not know how favouring onshore visa applications would impact offshore applicants who already faced long wait times.<\/p>\n

Mr Hammond said de-prioritising offshore parent visa applications would not be effective in bringing down net migration numbers.<\/p>\n

“The number of visas granted each year in those categories is really a drop in the ocean,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The fact that people already wait a very long time for those visas, it doesn’t really make a lot of sense as far as the government’s objective to reduce the overseas migration number is concerned.”<\/p>\n

Greens senator David Shoebridge said the idea that “immigration systems should be restructured around a short-term reduction of\u00a0net overseas migration is irresponsible, especially when it means pulling families apart”.<\/p>\n

He added that the average wait time now for a non-contributory parent visa was 30 years, and 15 years for a contributory visa.<\/p>\n

“Last year the devastating reality for over 1,500 families was that they lost their parent while waiting for a visa,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amy Hu was a single mother when she gave birth to her first daughter, so her own mother…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,10488,5745,4543,31023,2077,15156,6872,115590,115589,115588],"class_list":["post-77285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-backlog","tag-childcare","tag-children","tag-cost","tag-economy","tag-healthcare","tag-immigration","tag-offshore-visa","tag-onshore-visa","tag-parent-visa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}