Melbourne couple Inderdeep and Harpreet Sandhu were looking forward to Australia's new temporary parent visa, so their parents in India could spend more time with their three children.
Now, they say, they have been left wanting.
“It is absolutely unfair because what the initial terms and conditions promised were ... they have not been stuck to,” Mr Sandhu told SBS News.
The Sandhus with their two children.
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The new subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa, which opens for applications on 17 April, allows grandparents to visit their families in Australia and will cost $5,000 and $10,000 for a three-year and five-year visa respectively and will be subject to an annual cap of 15,000.
But families can only sponsor one set of parents who must have their own health insurance and will be able to renew the visa only once, meaning parents are permitted to stay in Australia for a total of 10 years.
The Sandus, now Australian citizens, arrived in Australia in 2007. Their youngest two children were born here.
Their respective parents have been to Australia on the visitor visa in the past which permits a continuous stay of one year at a time, but they were looking forward to being reunited for longer.
“For us, this visa means a lot, our culture is such that we have always been used to having joint families and to having our elders around us.”
Our culture is such that we have always been used to having our elders around us. - Harpreet Sandhu
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The new visa was committed to by the Turnbull government during the 2016 federal election, after a lengthy campaign from migrant communities. In particular, Indian migrant Arvind Duggal, who founded the Long Stay Visa for Parents committee which led the charge.
Mr Duggal says migrant communities in Australia deserve fairer terms than the new three and five-year parent visas offer.
“They are trying to make money from the grandparents visiting their kids, which is un-Australian and unethical.”
