High cost of Australia Parent visa disappoints immigrants

Several immigrants in Australia were delighted when it was announced by the Prime Minister of Australia in the election campaign last year that the government would launch an Australia Parent visa with five years validity In May 2017 Assistant Immigration Minister of Australia announced a new provisional sponsored Australia Parent visa that would allow the parents of the immigrants to reside in Australia for ten years without the gap and applying for visa renewal, as quoted by Times of India. The application fee for the visa with the three-year permit is 5,000 dollars and for the five-year permit visa, the application cost is 10,000 dollars for each individual parent. The applicants whose visas are approved will also be required to avail coverage of private health insurance during their stay in Australia which again costs some hundred dollars monthly. However, the high costs of visa have disappointed several immigrants in Australia. An Indian-origin Bus driver in Australia Duggal has questioned the affordability of the parent visas for many of the immigrants. The provision of security deposit that is refundable is acceptable but there is no logic for paying 5000 dollars for a three-year visa when a two-year stay visa costs just 170 dollars, questioned Duggal. A large percentage of the immigrants in Australia were hoping that the new Australia Parent visa would facilitate the reunion with their family members. It was also expected to ease the financial burden of the youthful families as uniting with parents would save child care services costs as the grandparents would cater to it. Australia Parent visas have diverse categories such as the permanent contributory parent visa, provisional contributory parent visa, and the aged parent visa. All the overseas immigrants in Australia who were pinning their hopes that the new visa will facilitate them to unite with their parents with ease and for a longer period of time now feel that they have been cheated into voting the Liberals to power in Australia. The Australian Senator Nick McKim said that the visa application fee of 10,000 dollars is going to be very expensive for the families of the immigrants.