Almost half of all Australians have a parent born overseas, and in cases where the parent still lives overseas, they may wish to reunite with their adult children in Australia.

The application process for an overseas parent visa is significant, involving Visa Application Charge(s) (VAC) and lengthy processing timeframes.

Depending on the type of parent visa applied for, the total VAC payable can be as high as more than $40,000 and the wait time for processing up to almost 30 years. 

It is not surprising that some parent visa applicants, due to a change in circumstances or simply feeling that the wait is too long, wish to discontinue their application and request a refund of the VAC they have paid to date. 

This investigation examines whether Home Affairs has appropriate policies and procedures for consistent and fair decision-making in assessing VAC refund requests for parent visas (noting particularly the high costs and long processing times).

The investigation found that some aspects of Home Affairs' existing policies and procedures for VAC refunds need to be improved to ensure consistent and fair decision-making. It found that Home Affairs' policies and procedures on VAC refunds, in some respects, risk unfair outcomes either by: 

• guiding decision-makers to exercise their discretion narrowly, without duly considering the specific circumstances of each case and whether a refund would be the fair outcome in the circumstances
• strictly applying key terms, or
• a lack of quality assurance processes to mitigate risk of inconsistent decision-making.