838 Visa Aged Dependent Relative (Onshore)

Visa Overview 

838 Visa - Aged Dependent Relative (Onshore) is a permanent visa that allows a single older person to stay in Australia if they rely on a relative living in Australia for financial support.

Eligibility

To be eligible for subclass 838, the aged dependent relative needs to meet the following requirements

• Must be inside Australia when the application is submitted and until the department decides

• Have an eligible sponsor

• Must be of aged pension age in Australia

• Financially dependent on their relative in Australia

• Have no partner

• Gain Assurance of Support (AoS)

  • The sponsor makes a legal agreement with the Department of Home Affairs to help their family member or relative migrate to Australia. The sponsor will be responsible for certain social security payments to the Australian Government which is paid for the main applicant applying to migrate to Australia during their AoS period.

Sponsorship Obligations

Being a sponsor, when your relative and the accompanying family members arrive in Australia on this visa, you must take responsibility for their:

• Accommodation

• Financial assistance

If you have also been responsible for assurance of support, you must support your relative and their family for 2 years by:

• Providing financial support so they don’t have to rely on any government forms of income support

• Repaying the Australian Government for any social security payments

• Paying a refundable bond before the visa is granted

Process

Step 1: The Application

• Gather your documents and also your sponsor’s documents

• You must apply for the visa on paper. You must be inside of Australia when you apply.
  

Step 2: The First Assessment

• Pay the second installment when the Department tells you to. The Department will send you an invoice for the installment after you have met all other requirements for the visa.

• You must pay the installment or the Department can't grant the visa.

• At this point, your visa request will be put in a queue and you have to wait until there is an available place in the migration program.
  

Step 3: The Second Assessment

• After your application finishes the first assessment, the Department will review your application once more and they will let you know when and how much you have to pay the second installment fee.

• Without the second fee, you won’t receive a visa, so make sure you pay the complete required fee.

• Wait for the visa to be granted.

Processing Time

This visa will take up to 50 years to finish processing. When your application finishes the first assessment, it is put into a queue and this waiting period may last up to 50 years.

As of February 2021, the Department of Home Affairs has begun to finalize applications that were submitted up to August 2 of 2011.

Costs 

The fee for the 838 Aged Dependent Relative Visa is AUD 6,490 paid in two installments. There are going to be additional visa fees for each member of your family that applies alongside you. The pricing is as follows:

• The initial fee for the main applicant: AUD 4,425

• The initial fee for each dependent applicant over the age of 18: AUD 2,215

• The initial fee for each dependent applicant under the age of 18: AUD 1,110

The second installment – for each person included on the application is AUD 2,065.

Accreditation