Parent Visas

This category warrants a frank statement of the position, because much of the advice available in the market does not provide one.

Permanent parent visas are capped and queued. Waiting periods are measured in years rather than months, and no registered agent is able to shorten them. What competent representation can achieve is the selection of the correct subclass for the family’s actual circumstances, entry into the appropriate queue at the earliest possible date, and a clear understanding of the options available to the parents in the interim.

As at 31 May 2026, the Department had released for final processing:

Contributory Parent applications, including subclasses 143 and 173, with a queue date up to November 2018; and Parent (subclass 103) applications with a queue date up to February 2014.

For an application lodged at the present time, published estimates indicate a waiting period in the order of fifteen years for the contributory subclasses and thirty years or more for the non-contributory subclasses. Representations that a shorter period can be achieved should be treated with caution.

The Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa sits outside the permanent queue and is generally decided within months rather than decades. It permits a stay of up to five years at a time, subject to a maximum of ten years across the family. It carries no work rights and no pathway to permanent residence, and the sponsorship must be approved before the visa application is lodged.

Where parents seek extended time with children and grandchildren but do not require permanent status, the Subclass 870 is frequently the better course. It may also be pursued alongside a contributory application already held in the queue.

# The Balance of Family test, which requires that at least half of the parent’s children are Australian citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens usually resident in Australia, or that more of the parent’s children live in Australia than in any other single country. The test applies to subclasses 103, 143, 173, 804, 864 and 884.

# Sponsorship by an eligible child, or in defined circumstances another eligible sponsor, who has been settled in Australia.

# An Assurance of Support for permanent parent visas. This is called for when the application is released from the queue and requires the assurer to satisfy an income test and to lodge a bond.

# Health and character requirements, assessed at the conclusion of processing, which for queued applications may occur many years after lodgement.

# No Further Stay conditions, which can prevent an onshore application. These should be checked before the parents travel.