# Sponsoring Sibling



## zestweb (Jan 22, 2013)

Hi, I am a permanent resident of Australia and live with my husband who has australian citizenship. I want to sponsor my brother, but I am not sure which type of visa should he apply to. He is not my only sibling and he is only a highschool graduate so I can't sponsor him on a work visa. I want to know what options do I have?

If anyone can offer any tips we would really appreciate it.

Thanks


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## zestweb (Jan 22, 2013)

anything....?


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## MarkNortham (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi -

Unfortunately if he's not your only remaining relative outside Australia, there isn't a good visa for this in Australia's family visa program - this program has visas for parents and children, but not brothers and sisters. You could sponsor him for a subclass 679 one-year Sponsored Family Visitor visa, but that would only be for 1 year and no work is allowed.

Let me know if I can provide any further info - sorry I don't have better news for you!

Best,

Mark Northam


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## zestweb (Jan 22, 2013)

thanks for the valuable info. Just one more question. So If he comes here in a sponsored family visitor visa, and say after three, four months wants to change that to a student visa, is that possible? Or would we run into any issues?


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## MarkNortham (Dec 19, 2012)

Hi -

Unfortunately he would not be able to apply for a student visa onshore while holding a subclass 679 sponsored family member visitor visa. 

While this is available for normal tourist/visitor visas (ie, 676 visitor visa, etc) for some reason DIAC has very tightly controlled the ability of 679 visa holders in Australia. The subclass 679 visa is usually issued with condition 8503 which prevents onshore application for any further visa without a waiver.

Best,

Mark Northam


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