What Is The Legal Procedure To Apply For A Child Visa In Australia?

As an affectionate parent, you must be very glad to bring your child to Australia. But for that, you need to apply for a visa for your child. The application process is not tough but you have to follow a definitive legal procedure. Here we discuss all the important factors about the child visa that you may find beneficial.

General Features Of The Visa

In this section, we mention the general features about this visa to give you an overall description.

• This visa will allow a child who lives outside Australia to come here and join his parents.
• The child can live in Australia permanently with this visa.
• The general cost of this visa is from AUD 2665.
• For 75% of the applications, processing time is 8 months while that for 90% of the applications is 13 months.

What Are The Child’s Eligibility Criteria For This Visa?

The child has to meet certain eligibility criteria to get this visa and they are as follows.

1. Sponsorship:

The child must get sponsorship from the parent or the partner of his parent.

2. Age:

The age of the child must be less than 18 years. However, a full-time student having an age between 18 and 25 or a youngster having age more than 18 years but unable to do any job because of a disability can also be eligible to apply.

3. Single:

The child should not marry or go into any de facto relationship before coming to Australia.

4. Relationship With The Parent:

The child must be a biological or an adopted child of the parent who is sponsoring. A stepchild can also be eligible to apply for the visa if he or she is younger than 18 years and of a step-parent who is not the partner of his or her parent anymore but bears legal responsibility for the child’s care. For the visa application of an adopted child, the parents must obtain Australian citizenship or Australian permanent residency or become eligible New Zealand citizens before the adoption process.

5. Health Requirements:

The child should satisfy health requirements specified by the Australian Government. The health examination results remain valid for 12 months. You should note that this eligibility also applies to any other member of your family who is included in your application.

6. Character Requirements:

If the child’s age is more than 16, then he or she has to provide a police certificate issued in each country where that individual had lived for 1 year or more during the past 10 years after turning 16. Like health requirements, this eligibility also applies to you and all of your family members whose names have been listed in the application.

7. Debts:

The child should not have debts unpaid to the Australian Government. Even if there are debts, repayment should have been arranged prior to the application. A qualified immigration lawyer may help you in repaying debts.

8. Location:

The child must be outside Australia at the time of application and also when the decision is announced.

Who Can Sponsor The Child?

To sponsor your child, you must also meet some eligibility criteria.

1. You must be the biological or step-parent of your child.
2. Your age must be more than 18 years.
3. You have to be an Australian citizen or hold an Australian PR visa. Being an eligible New Zealand citizen will also do.
4. If you are step-parent of your child but not the partner of another parent anymore, still you can sponsor if you hold legal responsibilities.
5. If you are an adoptive parent, you should have adopted your child before you obtained Australian citizenship or Australian PR visa.
6. You may not be in Australia at the time of application. But, still sponsoring is possible if you have entered the country in the past or have got your PR visa but not yet entered.

What Will Be Your Sponsorship Obligations?

As a sponsor, you should fulfil the following legal obligations.

• You will have to bear the living cost of your child in Australia.
• You have to provide suitable accommodation and sufficient financial support so that your child can lead a decent life in Australia.
• You have to help the child so that he can get settled in Australia.
• Your child may need an English language class and you have to provide the necessary support for it.

If there occurs any change in circumstances that may affect your child visa eligibility or your sponsorship eligibility, you have to inform it the authority in written form.

In The End

Step-by-step visa application is indeed a lengthy process. One mistake may be enough for your visa refusal. So, it will be better if you take physical help from Australian migration lawyers. Migration Lawyer Perth can help you in finding top lawyers.