Bringing Your Parents to Australia
As an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, you may sponsor your parents to live with you in Australia. However, parent migration is one of the most complex, expensive, and time-consuming visa categories in the Australian system.
Deciding between the fast (but expensive) Contributory pathway and the cheap (but incredibly slow) Non-Contributory pathway requires careful financial and familial planning.
The Balance of Family Test
To be eligible for any permanent Parent visa, the parent must pass the Balance of Family (BoF) test. This test requires that at least half of the parent's children live permanently in Australia, OR that more of their children live permanently in Australia than in any other single country. Calculating this accurately is critical, especially when step-children, adopted children, or deceased children are involved.
Contributory Parent Visas
The Australian government allocates the vast majority of parent visa places to the Contributory stream. These visas process relatively quickly (currently estimated at 6 to 12 years) but require a massive financial contribution to offset the parent's future healthcare costs in Australia.
Key Subclasses:
- Subclass 143 (Permanent): The most common contributory visa. The current application fee is approximately AUD $48,000 per parent.
- Subclass 173 (Temporary): A two-stage pathway that allows you to split the massive cost. You pay part of the fee for a 2-year temporary visa, and the remainder when transitioning to the 143 PR visa.
- Subclass 864 / 884 (Aged Parent): For parents who are old enough to receive the Australian age pension. These can be applied for onshore, allowing the parent to remain in Australia on a bridging visa while waiting.
Assurance of Support (AoS): In addition to the visa fees, the sponsor must provide a legal bond (approx $10,000 for one parent, $14,000 for two) held by the government for 10 years.
Non-Contributory Parent Visas
These visas (Subclass 103 and 804) have much lower application fees (around $5,000).
However, the government caps the number of these visas granted each year to a very small amount. Because demand massively outstrips supply, the current estimated processing time for a new Non-Contributory Parent visa application is upwards of 30 to 40 years.
The main strategic benefit of the Subclass 804 (Aged Parent) is that if lodged onshore, the aged parent is granted a Bridging Visa A, allowing them to remain in Australia with their family for the rest of their lives while they wait in the queue.
Sponsored Parent (Temporary) Visa (Subclass 870)
Introduced as an alternative for families who cannot meet the Balance of Family test or afford the Contributory fees.
The 870 visa allows parents to visit Australia for 3 or 5 years at a time (up to a maximum of 10 years). It does NOT lead to permanent residency, and parents are not granted work rights or Medicare access. They must maintain comprehensive health insurance for their entire stay.
