Key changes to Australian immigration Law in 2021 – Part #2 – COVID concession for certain family visa applicants unable to depart Australia due to border closures
Published on January 22, 2021 by Maithri Panagoda AM, Wing Ho | 何宛穎律師 and Yee Mei Chow
The Department of Home Affairs has indicated that it will implement a concession for certain family visa applicants who applied for their visas offshore, then came to Australia and are stuck in Australia due to border closures. Usually such applicants would need to be offshore in order to have their visas granted however the concession will now allow affected applicants to have their visas to be granted while they are in Australia.
At this stage, the Department proposes to waive the requirement for the applicants to be offshore to be granted the visa with respect to the following visa subclasses:
- Child (subclass 101) visa
- Adoption (subclass 102) visa
- Dependent Child (subclass 445) visa
- Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa
- Partner (subclass 309) visa
The Department has indicated that the concession may start in early 2021 and will be providing further information in due course.
You can find the latest information on the Department’s COVID-19 visa concessions here.
For assistance with any Australian immigration matter, contact Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers.
