Carer Visa
The Carer Visa is a permanent visa for a relative providing substantial and continuing care to a settled Australian relative with a medical condition that causes extreme functional impairment. The Subclass 116 is the offshore application; the Subclass 836 is the onshore application. The pathway is built on a Bupa Medical Visa Services assessment of the Australian relative's impairment, supported by a clear demonstration that no reasonable alternative source of care is available in Australia.
Key facts
Visa Type
Permanent
Subclasses
116 offshore / 836 onshore
Sponsor Settlement
2 years in Australia minimum
Processing Estimate
~4.5 years (queue release Oct 2017)
Eligibility
The applicant must be a relative of a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, or a relative of that person's partner, who needs substantial and continuing assistance because of a medical condition causing extreme functional impairment. Eligible relatives include parents, partners, children (biological, adopted, step, and foster), siblings (biological, adopted, step, foster, and half), nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and grandchildren.
The applicant must be willing and able to provide the care. The Australian relative or that person's partner must be settled in Australia (lawfully resident for a reasonable period, typically at least 2 years), and must continue to be settled at decision.
The Bupa Medical Visa Services assessment
The Australian relative's medical condition is assessed by Bupa Medical Visa Services. The assessment establishes whether the condition produces extreme functional impairment, whether the impairment is expected to last for at least 2 years, and whether substantial and continuing assistance is required. The assessment is documentary and clinical, drawing on treating-specialist reports, hospital records, and rehabilitation evidence.
Strategic preparation of the medical evidence is decisive. Treating-specialist reports addressing functional impact, prognosis, and care needs in the language of the assessment criteria materially affect the assessment outcome.
Reasonable availability of care
Establishing extreme functional impairment is necessary but not sufficient. The applicant must also establish that there is no reasonable alternative source of care available in Australia. Alternatives that the Department considers include other relatives in Australia, private care providers, community services, and public welfare services.
The reasonable availability test is fact-specific and case-by-case. Where alternatives exist on paper but are not realistically available (cost, geographic location, intensity of care required, suitability), the applicant must demonstrate that those alternatives are not reasonable in the circumstances.
Capping and queueing
The Carer Visa sits within the Other Family category, which is subject to numerical capping and queueing. Recent indicative timeframes sit at approximately 4.5 years. Applications with a queue date up to October 2017 are currently being released for final processing.
The onshore Subclass 836 confers a Bridging Visa A on lodgement, keeping the applicant lawful in Australia during processing. The offshore Subclass 116 provides no equivalent interim status.
Related pathways
Strategic preparation of the Carer Visa
Carer Visa cases turn on the strength of the Bupa Medical Visa Services assessment and on the reasonable availability test. Visa Plan Lawyers prepares medical evidence and submissions structured around the precise assessment criteria and the Department's framework for alternative care.