Stephany does not get to spend much time with her parents, because while she has been living in Australia, they have been waiting in Colombia in a years-long queue to migrate here.
“[We] don’t know what is going to happen and when it’s going to happen, so the uncertainty is really, really hard on us,” Stephany said.
Stephany’s parents are visiting her on a one-year tourist visa, but once they go back to Colombia, she doesn’t know when she’ll see them next.
Before this visit, Stephany had not seen her parents for six years — they applied for permanent visas in 2019, so with current backlogs listed by Home Affairs, they expect to wait another eight years before receiving a decision.
Meanwhile, both her parents and her children are getting older.
“It’s great to have them around the kids, show them the culture and of course look after them,” Stephany said.
“[And] it’s so hard because we want them to be part of our lives, part of our kids’ lives. We really want to know and have clear time frames, how long this is going to take,” she said.
The government is close to releasing a new migration strategy to address some of the existing holes and backlogs in the system.
Parent visas are one of the most tricky areas, and there’s still no obvious solution.
Tens of thousands of parents hope to reunite with their families, but the system only allows for around 8,500 permanent places a year, so the waitlist quickly balloons.
At the moment, the waitlist is around 143,842 over several parent visa categories.
Shahri Rafi is an immigration lawyer in southern Sydney, and said the current system just isn’t fair.
“The government’s position is driven by that fear that elderly people will become a burden on the government and a burden on the taxpayers,” she said.
As Australia’s population ages, there is a concern that allowing in older migrants will strain Australia’s health and aged care facilities.
Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the Immigration Department who has studied the issue closely, said there’s no easy answer.
“At the moment, access to health and aged care services in Australia is at a crisis point, and we are struggling to manage to deliver services to existing elderly residents,” Mr Rizvi said.
But he said the government could look at partnering with the private sector.
“I suspect what they will look at is health insurance products. That’s the way to do it, let the private sector manage the health costs,” he said.
