Important update: these visas have been restored as of 26th September 2014.
On 2nd June the Department of Immigration removed a whole range of family visas. These are:
- Parent visa (subclass 103)
- Aged Parent visa (subclass 804)
- Aged Dependent Relative visa (subclasses 114 and 838)
- Remaining Relative visa (subclasses 115 and 835)
- Carer visa (subclasses 116 and 836)
It is sad to say that the change has been carried out suddenly in a very secretive way which poses a big difficulty for people planning to sponsor their family members to come to Australia. All applications lodged before 2nd June are processed under old regulations though.
As a result of above change the family visas have shrunk to Partner, Contributory (Aged) Parent and Child visas.
If you want to bring your parent you can still do it, however, you will need to pay an excessively high application fee. At the moment of writing the charge for Contributory Parent (subclass 143) visa is 47,120 AUD.
The question is: how many people can afford that?
