EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Migration Act 1958

1. This Notice Instrument is made under regulation 1.17 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (‘the Regulations’) and section 85 of the Migration Act 1958 (‘the Act’).

2.                  Regulation 1.17 of the Regulations provides that the Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, specify matters required by individual provisions of the Regulations to be specified for the purpose of those provisions.

2.3.            Section 85 of the Act provides allows the Minister the power to determine by Gazette Notice, the maximum number of the visas of a specified class or the visas of specified classes that may be granted in a specified financial year.

4.                  The purpose of the Instrument is to impose a cap on the number of visa grants for the Non-Contributory Parent Category (‘the Parent Category’) over the 2004-2005 financial year. The Parent Category consists of 2 visa classes – the Class AX Parent (Migrant) visa ‘(the Parent (Migrant) class visa’) and the Class BP Aged Parent (Residence) visa (‘the Aged Parent (Residence) class visa’). A cap of 1000 visas is placed on the Parent Category for the 2004-2005 financial year. Relevantly, this Instrument imposes a maximum number of 320 Aged Parent (Residence) class visas that may be granted for the 2004-2005 financial year. A separate Instrument imposes a cap of 680 Parent (Migrant) class visas that may be granted over the same financial year.   

5. The Aged Parent (Residence) class visa is subject to visa capping due to high demand and limited number of places available. Due to the high demand and limited number of places, the parent category is subject to capping and queuing. Once This means that once the limit set by the Government for this visa classthe Aged Parent (Residence) class visa  for thea Migration Program Yearspecific financial year has been reached, no further visas can be granted in that Program Yearfinancial year. Once a cap is reached, aApplicants are wait in a queued until a place becomes available.  There are approximately 20,000 people waiting for a decision on a Parent (Migrant) or an Aged Parent (Residence) class visa application. 

6. The Queuing mechanism is a method of managing the parent caseload so that the visa places available under the parent program are allocated in an orderly way until the numeric target or cap is met.  Queuing eliminates unnecessary requests for the payment of second instalments of visa application charges and bonds.  Applicants know where they stand well in advance and it is more precise.  The queue is a continuum used both before and after the cap is reached.

7. The Contributory Parent Category was introduced in 2003 to enable the expansion of the parent migration program, thus addressing the demand in the pre-existing Parent Category while minimising the potential cost to the Commonwealth budget of an increase in Australia’s aged population.  The Contributory Parent Category for 2004-2005 was not to exceed 3, 500 places. 

86. The Instrument operates to specify the number of Aged Parent (Residence) class visas that may be granted for the 2004-2005 financial year.  

There are no documents incorporated in the instrument by reference.

967. This Instrument does not have a direct, or a substantial indirect, effect on business or restrict competition (subsection 17(1) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 refers). As such, consultation was not undertaken.

108. The Instrument commences on the first moment of the day following the day when the Instrument is registered (the default commencement, paragraph 12(1)(d) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 refers).

Internal Consultation was undertaken with Migration Program Section, the Legislative Instruments Unit, State and Territory offices and the Perth Offshore Processing Centre before the instrument was made.

7. The instrument commences on the day of publication in the Gazette.