Nearly 2,300 applicants died waiting for a parent visa to Australia with processing times of up to 31 years

Providing an opportunity for people to apply for a visa that will probably never come seems both cruel and unnecessary', review says

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Wait times for visas to bring parents to Australia are so long that nearly 2,300 applicants died before receiving a visa in the last three years, according to the home affairs department.

The department released the data to Senate estimates, revealing that 2,297 parent visa applicants and 87 other family members, such as aged dependent relatives or carers, had died while waiting for a visa.

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