Parental visas cost much more than they contribute to Australian economy: Report

Australia should reevaluate visas for parents of immigrants, according to the Productivity Commission, because each year's intake costs taxpayers between $2.6 billion and $3.2 billion.

Parents of migrants cost more than they contribute to the Australian economy, says report Source: Wiki commons

Parents who arrived during 2015-2016 are estimated to cost between $335,000 and $410,000 each over the course of their lifetime.

 

A high cost for a relatively small group, siad the commissions Migrant Intake report, given that their contribution to Australia is typically poor. It states that parents rarely do paid work, and if they do, the income tax they pay is negligible.

 

Visas for parents of either Australian citizens or permanent residents are divided into two streams: the 'non-contributor' visa which takes 18-30 years to process and costs $7,000, and the 'contributor' visa which has about a two-year processing time at $50,000, payments that did not cover annual intake costs, the commission report said.

 

Given the balance of the costs and benefits, the case for retaining parent visas in their current form is weak.

 

Manpreet has this report