Inviting Visitors, Relatives and Parents to Australia

This article reflects my personal experience in inviting my parents-in-laws to Australia.

Some things to consider:

1. When do you plan to have them in Australia

• I and my wife plan ahead as the processing of their visa will take around 1 month after actual lodgement
• They too, at their end, need to secure some requirements themselves in relation to their application. They       must secure or renew their passport; they validity of their passport must be 6 months or more.
• I, who invited them also need to prepare some documents

2. The Health of your visitors (Physical, mental/emotional)

• Physical: Are they healthy enough? not just for the consideration of passing the medical exam but in      considering the cost of medical-related expenses such us health insurance, medicines, hospitalization, etc.    see Visiting Australia - Medical Costs
• Mental/emotional: Are they ready to be away from your other relatives? Do they really want to visit Australia? Discuss possible issues with them before they visit you

   
The documents that we provided are the following:

      1. Certificate of Marriage (NSO copy)
      2. Statutory declaration with certificate of employment and payslips
      3. Statutory declaration that my wife is pregnant
      4. Certified copy of our passports , and Australian Visas
      5. Certified copy of our NSW Driver License
      6. Centrelink Income Statement

         Sample Invitation Letter
       Sample Statutory declaration that my wife is pregnant (insert contents in the actual document)
       Commonwealth statutory declaration

Note/s:

•   A statutory declaration is a written statement that allows a person to declare something to be true.
•   JP-certified mean "Justice of the Peace" certified. JP's are like 'notary public' in the Philippines.
•   Other proof of funds can be bank statements and credit card statements
•   I submitted a Statutory Declaration (JP-Certified) - declaring that I am working for company AAA, my start of employment, with attachments of my payslips and certificate of employment. I did this since my certificate of employment, though it has my annual income stated on it, does not have a 'wet signature'. My certificate of employment is an electronic file which I have to print on a coloured-printer.

A checklist document for the Visitor visa (subclass 600) Application  can be found online.

As a summary, the Visitor visa (subclass 600) lets you visit Australia:

• to visit or for business purposes
• for up to three, six or 12 months.
• The base application charge for this visa ranges from AUD130 to AUD335.
• If you hold a certain passport, you might be able to apply for a free or cheaper visa.
• The Tourist stream is for people travelling to Australia for a holiday, recreation or to visit family and friends and for other purposes not related to business or medical treatment. Since you are outside Australia, your application must be made outside Australia. If you apply for this visa outside Australia, you must be outside Australia to be granted the visa.
• The Sponsored Family stream is for people travelling to Australia to visit their family. You must have a sponsor who might be asked to provide a bond.You must be outside Australia when you apply and you must be outside Australia to be granted the visa.

Note:

Although it appears that we shouldered all expenses for our visitors, we did not post a bond and our visitors were fortunately granted with their visa's.