Parent visas

Australian Parent visas (Subclass 173, 143 and 870)

Who doesn’t miss his/her parents when they are far away? If you have been living in Australia without your parents for some time, you must have felt the same. A parent visa can solve the problem.

Australian parent visas are designed in various types to meet the needs of various situations. They can be permanent, or provisional, contributory, or non-contributory. While some provisional visa leads to permanent visa application in the future, some may not. You must consult an expert before choosing from the list of Australian parent visas.

Before moving on to read further on Australian Parent Visas, you should know about the concept of “Balance of Family Test”.

Balance of Family Test

An applicant passes the balance of family test if:

    1. Half of the applicant’s children are Australian citizens, Australian Permanent Residents or qualified New Zealand residents are typically living and settled in Australia, or;
    2. The applicant has more children living in Australia as Australian nationals, Australian Permanent Residents, or qualified New Zealand residents than in any other country.
To be eligible for this program, one must have the capacity to earn a salary over the High Income Threshold or hold a high-grade recent Masters or PhD degree within the following sectors

Contributory Parent Visa (Subclass 143 and 173)

If your age is under 65.5, and you meet the ‘Balance of Family Test’, you are eligible to apply for a contributory parent visa. The Contributory Parent Visa (Subclass 173) is a temporary parent visa. This visa allows you to stay in Australia for 24 months, and cannot be extended or renewed.

To live as a permanent resident of Australia, you can apply for Contributory Parent Visa (Subclass 143) within 24 months of your stay in Australia. It takes 3.5 to 4 years to process this visa. You need to deposit an amount of $43,600 per migrant to the Australian government. This deposit is non-refundable. You can pay this amount in full or in two installments. This contributory amount is requested once the parents pass the health and police check-ups.

In both cases, the applicant’s child, who is living in Australia, must sponsor him/her. If the child is under 18, a child’s spouse (must be at least 18), parents, or legal guardians of the spouse (if the spouse is under 18) can be the sponsor. The sponsor must be an Australian citizen, or permanent resident, or a qualified New Zealand citizen.

Aged Parents

If one of the parents is 65.5 years, or above, meets ‘Balance of Family Test’, and stays in Australia on a visa that allows him/her to apply for a parent visa onshore (a visitor or tourist visa WITHOUT the 8503 “No Further Stay” condition), he/she can apply for the visa staying in Australia.

Aged Parent Visa (Subclass 804)

This is a non-contributory parent visa and it may take over 25 years to be approved which is abnormal. However, with a bridging visa A the applicant can live in Australia during the unusually long processing time. If he/she needs to leave Australia temporarily, he/she has to apply for a bridging visa B.

Contributory Aged Parent Visa (Subclass 864)

The parents aging 65.5 or over can apply for a Subclass 864 Visa whilst onshore on a valid visa. As stated above, this visa involves a non-refundable deposit of $43,000 to the Australian government. The visa processing time may need 2 years.

If the aged parent is unable to obtain a visitor visa without the 8503 condition, he/she needs to lodge an offshore parent visa (non-contributory visa), giving a processing time of 25 years or more.

Sponsored Parent Visa (Subclass 870)

This temporary visa, announced with new policies on March 1, 2019, allows parents to stay in Australia for a longer time than the Visitor Visas. On April 17, 2019, applications opened for lodgement. Subclass 870 Visa does not require the parents to meet the ‘Balance of Family Test’ to apply.

The child must be approved as a sponsor first and then he/she can sponsor the applicant parent/parents.

The sponsor must show that he/she has been living in Australia for at least 4 years and have the financial stability to sponsor the parents.

The Subclass 870 Visa does not provide the parents with permit to work in Australia. So, as a parent, you have to show sufficient funds to support yourself during the stay in Australia. There is no age limit of parents to apply for this visa. Parents holding this visa can stay in Australia for 3 to 5 years temporarily without the need to depart Australia. But, you must be outside of Australia for at least 3 months to apply for a consecutive Sponsored Parent Visa. So, you can stay in Australia for a maximum of 10 years on this visa.

Subclass 870 Visa is capped. So, once a fixed number of 870 visas are granted (15,000), no further 870 visas are available in that year (commencing in July).

The fee associated with the visa to stay up to 3 years is $5,000 and $10,000 up to 5 years. You can pay the amount in two parts; one on the application and the other before the visa is granted.

 
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