Commonly there is an expectation amongst parents of children in close knit families, particularly when a family is of humble means, that the children will grow up, gain a good education and be successful. Taking this one step further those parents of Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents expect to be able to join their children in Australia as permanent residence and eventually as Australian citizens.
Australian Migration Laws however do not allow parents of every Australian permanent resident or every foreign born Australian citizen to migrate to Australia as a permanent resident. There are a number of conditions that the parents have to fulfil or gateways that they successfully have to negotiate to migrate to Australia. Some of the more important ones are discussed below.
Balance of Family Test
The "balance of family" test is defined in Regulation 1.05 of the Australian Migration Regulations. Briefly, to pass this test a parent must have at least half of his or her children permanently residing in Australia (including eligible New Zealand citizens i.e. children with subclass 444 visas) OR they must have the greatest number of children permanently residing in Australia than in any other single overseas country. By way of an example, a parent who has 5 children and 3 of them live in country A and 2 of them live in Australia, that parent would not satisfy the balance of family test. However if the same parent has 1 child in country A, another child in country B and third child in country C and 2 children in Australia, that parent would satisfy the balance of family test. Further if the parent had 3 children in Australia and 2 in other countries then the balance of family test will be satisfied. If the parent had 4 children and 2 were permanently resident in Australia, the balance of family test would be satisfied.
A person is considered the child of a parent if the person is a child, adopted child or stepchild of the parent or of the spouse of the parent. A child can also be the child of a parent if the child is the child of a former spouse of the parent if that child was adopted by the parent before the parent became the former spouse i.e. while the parent was the spouse of the former spouse.
In assessing children for the balance of family test the following children are not to be considered the children of the parent:
- children who have been adopted by another person;
- a child who has been ordered by a Court to be removed from the exclusive custody of the parent;
- children who have been recognised by UNHCR as refugees and are in a refugee camp;
- children who are not able to be reunited in another country with their parents and who are resident in a country where they are subject of persecution and abuse of human rights;
- step children of a person if those children were born after their parent and a step parent separated;
- step children of a person if the children were over 18 years of age and their parent entered into a relationship with the step parent and relationship between the parent and the step parent has ended by death, separation or divorce.
Unless the "balance of family" test is satisfied, there is no flexibility in succeeding in an application for an Australian permanent resident visa on the basis of being a parent of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.
Immigration Law And Policy
There are certain laws imposed by governments of various countries to the people who are immigrating. These laws are in common named as the Immigration Laws. The Immigration Law for the Kingdom of Thailand is a set of laws concerning the immigration of people across the globe in to the kingdom. It is to be understood by any person intending to travel to Thailand even if as a tourist. The Immigration Law for the Kingdom of Thailand is to be followed by each and every person and are liable to be legally questioned if found guilty of breaking any of the set of laws. Immigration applications are handled by Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police Department, Ministry of Interior, according to the immigration act of 1979.
Most people who are planning for a vacation need not worry about the problems of having a visa and other such legal licenses. Except a few countries, all people from all over the world are allowed to be guests in the kingdom of Thailand. The Immigration law of Thailand allows a person to stay in Thailand without a visa for a period of about 30 days. This law is very much helpful for tourists as most tours do not exceed a time limit of 30 days. This avoids the strain of running for visas when we are planning for a vacation. An extended period of 15 days may also be approved by the government on applying for it in the immigration office. Thus tourists are saved from these complicated steps to be undergone for getting visas and all, by the government itself.
But if a person wants to stay in Thailand for a long period of time as a settler then he or she will have to clear out all the norms put forth by the government. The Immigration law for the Kingdom of Thailand imposes rigorous punishments upon immigrants leading up to extend of giving death sentences. Immigrants may be of many types such as tourists, visitor transit, non- quota immigrant, non immigrant, and immigrants. People must apply for a visa in order to stay at any country for a longer time. Visas are of many types such as Non immigrant visa, tourist visa, etc. Non immigrant visas are taken by people who have other motives for being in Thailand rather than being a tourist. Other relevant documents may also be needed for non immigrants.
As per the immigration law for the Kingdom of Thailand, any 'application' is considered just as a request for staying in Thailand on a temporary basis. An official staff advised by the Commissioner General of the Thailand police headquarters only has the right to provide permit to people for a temporary stay. As per the immigration law of Thailand, any person having a valid passport may apply for the visa and if the application is rejected, then he or she may ask for the reason and the official concerned will have to give satisfactory explanations. Then he or she can resubmit the application again. The Thai Government can provide extension for staying at Thailand but it must not exceed 30 days and within this period the person concerned must get a license to stay at Thailand.
For people who plan to migrate to Thailand for the purpose of business, jobs, etc, permission may be granted which will not exceed a time period of one year. In most of the cases such as enrollment in a government institution, office, family member of a resident family, etc, the period will never extend one year at a time.
There are many procedures to be followed while submitting the application and it need not be accepted even though almost all details given in the application are most perfect. Sometimes the officials may find out some problem in granting the permission. The rules laid by the immigration law of the Kingdom of Thailand are rather complicated and might seem to be confusing for outsiders. Most Thai officials try not to cause problems and so immigration to the kingdom of Thailand is considered much strain less. The Immigration Law of the Kingdom of Thailand provides one of the vast studies upon the rules imposed on immigration. It is to be studied by all people planning to immigrate to the kingdom.
Both Frank Egan - Lac Lawyers & Wolfgang Jaegel are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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