Australia's Family Migration Scheme is designed to allow people to migrate to Australia to join family members already living here as permanent residents or Australian citizens. A person who qualifies to migrate to Australia may include their family unit in their visa. Normally the Australian relative must sign and lodge Sponsorship papers with the Australian Government. We provide the following brief summary of the types of migration visas available to people with family members living in Australia as permanent residents or Australian citizens.

An Australian or New Zealand permanent resident or citizen may sponsor a foreigner to obtain permanent residence in Australia as their spouse. Legal marriages and de facto marriages are considered.

An Australian relative may sponsor a child who is dependant upon them to become a permanent resident of Australia. Children aged over eighteen years are considered.

An Australian citizen or permanent resident who has been resident in Australia for at least two years may sponsor their parent(s) to obtain permanent residence in Australia. If the parent is of working age, it must be proven that the Australian is dependent upon the parent. If the parent is past working age, the 'Balance of Family Test' must be passed, that is, the number of children of the parent permanently resident in Australia must be:

Greater than (or at least equal to) the total number of children of the parent who are resident anywhere overseas; OR Greater than the greatest number of children of the parent who are resident in any single overseas country.

Aged dependant relatives, orphan relatives, and special need relatives may be sponsored to migrate to Australia by an Australian relative. Also where a foreign relative and their spouse live in a country where none of their relatives live then an Australian relative may sponsor them to migrate to Australia. In some of the above cases it is required that the Australian relative must have been permanently resident in Australia for at least two years before they will be eligible to sponsor their foreign relatives.

This is the equivalent of a spouse visa for homosexual couples. Also (rarely) it is available to non-homosexual friends who are truly interdependent upon each other for emotional and financial support.

In any of the above cases, a cash bond may be required to be lodged with the Australian Government as security against the possibility that the new migrant(s) may take the benefit of welfare payments during their first two years residence in Australia. The amount of this bond is $3,500.00 for the first migrant and an additional $1,500.00 for each person aged over eighteen years to be included in the visa. Also, an Australian citizen or permanent resident must sign a form guaranteeing that if the bond money in not enough, they will pay the extra money required (this is usually done by the Australian relative). This bond is compulsory for the Parent visa and all of the Preferential Family visas.

Where the migrants come from broken families or have been involved in a divorce complications can occur in respect of children to accompany them to Australia. The Australian Government will not interfere with the laws of foreign countries in relation to the custody access and guardianship of children. A parent wishing to migrate to Australia with children must either have the written consent of the other parent or court documents giving them full custody and guardianship of the children and giving no right of access to the other parent.