Highlights
- To qualify for an Orphan Relative visa, the child must be outside Australia and the relative must be 18 or older and must be an Australian citizen or eligible New Zealand citizen or hold an Australian permanent visa.
- A relative can be a sibling or step sibling, grand parent or step grandparent, aunt, uncle, step aunt or step uncle, or the current spouse or de-facto partner of the relative.
- Orphan Relative Visa is a permanent visa. Therefore, the child can stay in Australia indefinitely, work and study, enrol in Medicare, and can sponsor relatives to come to Australia.
Like any other Australian visa, the Orphan Relative visa (subclass 117) has a specific set of requirements that must be met.
This visa allows a child to come to Australia to live with a relative if their parents are deceased, can't care for them, or can't be found.
Mohammad Reza Azimi is an immigration agent from Shada Migration and Education Services in Sydney, he explains this.
“The Orphan Relative visa (subclass 117) is designed for those overseas children, under the age of 18 whose parents have died or are unable to care for them, or the parents have gone missing, and the child intends to come to Australia to live with their relatives.”
