YOUR SAY

When Elderly Parents Visit

HARSHAD PANDHARIPANDE presented a well-researched article about FAQs if you have your parents visiting from India, with workable solutions for visa issues, health insurance, travel and social needs.

Krishna Kumar wrote: I am a retired Chief Engineer from Ministry of Power, Government of India. I have relocated to Melbourne to live with my children. I am involved in many social group activities and am president of a multicultural senior citizens’ association in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The article “20 things you need to know” by Harshad Pandharipande has wonderful information for parents visiting from India. Hats off to the writers for answering Q. No. 19 about the social needs of your elderly parents. Social isolation is a significant problem for seniors on this foreign land. Please convey my best wishes to Harshad for such good coverage.

Sarita Khanna Juneja wrote: Good article. I wish you had also written about the starting point of the whole process in having the parents visit, ie, the procedure of applying for the tourist visa. When I did this for my own parents, I had no clue about supplying details on bank accounts and tax papers etc. It was also interesting to read your expert’s view in the question about asking people if they are on the same flight to look out for your parents. I see this a lot on social media platforms, and have often wondered whether it is safe or advisable. But it always appears as though people are willing to help, so it must work, even though I would feel hesitant to put such a message out. I was glad the expert view was that we should avoid doing this.