457 visa aftermath

[jimmybhoy]

Hi can anyone offer some advice or do you know of something similar.

my mate came to australia 2.5 years ago on a 457 visa to teach with 3 daughters and 1 son and a grand daughter allowed on his visa.

He has now applied for permanemt residency and has now been informed that his two eldest daughters will have to leave becasue they are no longer dependent on him.

Well they kinda are in a way - but never mind that he now has the choice of leaving with all his family or staying here with his wife and son and 1 daughter effectively splitting up his family by sending his 2 daughters home which he will have to pay for as his daughetsr can't afford it.

Anyway has anyone any advice on this matter?

[Sheelagh Blanckenberg]

Hi jimmybhoy

Welcome to the forum.

The scenario you outline is all to common among families who come to Australia on 457 visas unfortunately.

Under Australian immigration law, once a 'child' is deemed no longer dependent*, the child cannot be included as part of the family group in a subsequent visa application by the parent. The only options the child has are to lodge a visa application in his/her own right or leave Australia. Pretty harsh.

Without knowing any more details about your friends application, if he has been advised his two daughters are no longer considered dependent, then he does have a problem. I would strongly recommend he obtains assistance from a registered migration agent to advise him further.

I wish I had more favourable news for you.

Kind regards

Sheelagh

*Under current legislation, a child under the age of 18 is generally automatically considered dependent. Once a child is over 18 but under 25 years of age and has been a fulltime student since turning 18, he/she will also generally still be considered dependent. But once a child is 18 years or older and is no longer in full-time study the issue of dependency becomes much more problematic and not so clear cut.