Family Visa

Parent Visa ( Subclass 103, 143, 173, 804, 864 & 884 )

The Parent Visa is for parents who wish to migrate to Australia to be with their children. The application must be sponsored by one of their children and the child must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident who is settled in Australia.

Settled Sponsor

To be deemed 'settled' an Australian permanent resident must have been residing in Australia for at least 2 years prior to lodgement of the Parent Visa application. An Australian citizen must have been residing in Australia for at least 3 months prior to lodgement.

Balance of Family Test

To be eligible to apply for a Parent visa, applicants must meet what is called the 'Balance of Family' (BOF) test. This means the applicants must have:

At least half of their children living in Australia as permanent residents or Australian Citizens

More children living in Australia as permanent residents or Australian Citizens than in any other single country overseas

All children of the applicants are counted in the test, including children of previous relationships of either applicant.

Age Requirements

There is no age requirement for offshore Parent visa applications.

Parents may apply for an Aged Parent Visa in Australia (onshore) only if one parent is at least 65 years of age. If neither parent is old enough, the application must be lodged offshore.

Assurance of Support

An AoS is a legal commitment by an Assurer to repay the Government for certain social security benefits paid to those applicants covered by the bond for the first 10 years of their residence in Australia. At the end of the bond period, the bond amount will be released to the Assurer along with any interest it has earned.

Parent Visa Pathways

There are two pathways to apply for a Parent visa:

Standard Parent (non-contributory) visa
Contributory Parent visa.

Standard Parent Visa

This is the slow/cheap Visa.

The Parent Visa classes are subject to capping, which means that a limited number of them can be approved per financial year. Once all the legal requirements for the grant of a Parent visa are met, applications are placed in a queue for Visa grant.

Offshore Visa applicants can then expect to wait around 25-30 years to reach the top of the queue, and onshore Visa applicants can expect to wait around 6-8 years until their application is at the top of the queue for a Visa decision.

Contributory Parent Visa

This is the fast/expensive Visa option.

The Contributory Parent Visa category also has two different pathways:

Apply first for a temporary Visa, and then convert this to permanent residency after two years - Contributory Parent (Temporary/Provisional).
Apply directly for permanent residency - Contributory Parent (Permanent/Migrant).

Child Visa ( Subclass 101, 102, 445 & 802 )

This visa requires the child to be sponsored by a parent who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen.

Please note: If one of the parents was an Australian Citizen at the time of their child's birth, then the child may be eligible for Citizenship by Descent. If a child is born in Australia and at least one parent is a permanent resident or Citizen at the time of birth, the child is automatically an Australian Citizen. Siblings must lodge separate applications.

As the visa applicant, the child must:

Be the child of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen (there are special requirements for adopted children);
Be single (i.e. not married, engaged or in a de facto relationship);
Be under 23 years old at the time that your application is lodged.

If you are between 18 and 23 years old, you must be a full-time student AND financially dependent upon your sponsor, OR you must have a disability that prevents you from working. Additionally, you must NEVER have been married or had a de facto partner.