Yesterday, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection announced a new temporary parent visa due to be rolled out at the end of year. More details are due to be released when the budget is handed down next week.

The media release states the aim is to alleviate the long, non-contributory, parent visa processing queue, which now sits at 30 years. The new visa does not come as a surprise as it has been proposed for months.

The announcement purports the benefits of this visa to include child-minding, and alleviating childcare. The costs for this visa are reported to be AUD 5 000 for a three-year visa and AUD 10 000 for a five-year visa. The visa applicants will also be required to hold private health insurance to cover medical costs during their stay and requires sponsorship by an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen. It has also been reported that this can be renewed only once.

With a longer-term tourist visa an alternative to many, one wonders whether the costs stack up. It seems to be a temporary half measure between a tourist visa and the costly contributory parent visa, which is processed much faster. Many sponsors might end up crunching the numbers and finding this parent visa is not as economically viable as it purports to be.