Australian gov't moves to abolish family visas

Australia's major opposition Labor Party on Tuesday voiced grave concern about the government's move to abolish some family visa categories.

Labor said the move to scrap the non-contributory parent visa and the other family visa will prevent low and middle-income earners bringing their parents to Australia, and "punish ethnic communities" in the process.

Under the government's cuts to family visas, families will now have to pay up to a reported 125,000 Australian dollars to bring family members into the country.

"This is a cruel move by a government that is completely out of touch with migrant communities," shadow immigration minister Richard Marles said in a joint statement with shadow minister for citizenship and multiculturalism Michelle Rowland.

Applications for other family and non-contributory parent visas were discontinued this month.

Such visas include regular sponsored parent, aged parent, carers and remaining relative visas.

In 2013-14, more than 2,000 places were allocated to parent ( non-contributory) visas, including about 1,700 places for parent visas and about 550 places for aged parent visas.

To apply for any parent or contributory parent visa, applicants must be the parent of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, who is "settled" in Australia at the time the application is lodged.

Applicants must also satisfy the balance of family test, meaning at least half of their children live permanently in Australia, or that more of their children live permanently in Australia than in any other country.

Applicants in the parent (non-contributory) category have a significantly longer wait for applications to be finalized, while contributory applicants are given a higher priority.

A non-contributory visa requires a regular processing fee, but no upfront fee. The contributory stream, however, requires an extra upfront fee, which can be thousands of dollars.

The demand for the visa means there are nearly 32,000 applicants in the pipeline awaiting approval to make Australia home.

There are 12,500 people awaiting approval in the contributory visa category.