A Singaporean In Australia

I have been following your blog for a while and it has been extremely informative. Thank you very much. 

I am in the midst of preparing an Australian PR application. My main concern is that I would like to bring my parent along. From what I gather in the forums, it appears that parent visa options take a long  time to process (at least 1-2 years for the contributory visa) and I can apply only after I demonstrated that I have "settled" in Australia. The other option is to do visa runs on social visit/tourist visas. This is a logistically possible but more demanding option. Additionally, my parent, who has chronic conditions, will only be able to access private healthcare and social services. 

Would you help to share your perspectives/experiences on this? I am pretty old-school and feel strongly about my obligations towards care of my parent. 

Thank you, 

John

Filial piety is not old school. It is a value we should never lose sight of no matter who or what a man becomes. So I applaud your effort to do your homework in this matter. From your email, I gather you know as much as I do about the requirements of the two different parents visas in existence at the moment. 

The plan you panned out is probably the most obvious way to handling it. If you are opting for the contributory visa, you bring along your parent via tourist visa while waiting out 1-2 years for the approval of the permanent visa. This may not be as demanding as you think, unless your parent has medical appointments in a Singapore hospital in short intervals of 2-3 months. Else, returning to Singapore every 6 months for medical appointments and catching up with friends is not a bad idea. Since we are working most of the time, our parents staying with us for long term can be bored if unless they can commute by themselves and socialise comfortably in a new environment. Else, having to travel back and forth once in every few months is normally a welcoming idea to them.  You can select the timing wisely so that your parent can avoid the harshest weather, i.e the hottest or coldest months that the elderly tends to find it harder to adapt. Once the PR is approved and your parent is eligible for Medicare in Australia, you can adjust the routine according your parent's preferences.

Hope my views help you in some way.

Good luck.