Parent Visa
The Parent Visa is one of the most important family-reunion pathways for many children who have settled in Australia.
For sons and daughters who are Australian citizens, permanent residents, or eligible New Zealand citizens, bringing elderly parents to Australia to live together on a long-term basis is often a central part of the family’s longer-term plans.
Unlike partner or child visas, however, the Parent Visa framework is built around two very distinct pathways with very different costs.
The first pathway is the non-contributory Parent Visa, where government application charges are comparatively low but the currently published processing time runs to around 29 years or more.
The second pathway is the contributory Parent Visa, where the application charges are many times higher — currently in the order of AUD 47,000 or more in government charges per parent — but processing times are dramatically shorter, measured in years rather than generations.
In practice, Parent Visa matters typically raise the following core issues:
When NS Legal assists with Parent Visa matters, we help clients to make a rational comparison of the pathways based on the parents’ age, health, family structure and the sponsor’s financial capacity, so as to avoid being stranded in an unsuitable category for many years.
whether the parents pass the Balance of Family Test — that is, whether at least half (or equal-most) of their children are settled in Australia;
whether the sponsor satisfies the status, residence and income requirements, and is in a position to sign the Assurance of Support (AoS) and lodge the required security;
whether the parents have reached Australian age-pension age, which determines whether onshore or offshore options are available;
whether the parents are likely to meet Public Interest Criterion 4005 / 4007, particularly in terms of significant medical cost exposure;
where the parents are older and their health is uncertain, whether to join the queue for a non-contributory visa or to take on the substantial cost of the contributory pathway.
Main Parent Visa Subclasses
Australia’s Parent Visa framework consists of several subclasses, which can be grouped along two main axes: non-contributory vs contributory, and whether the parents are inside or outside Australia and whether they have reached age-pension age.
Common Parent Visa subclasses include:
- Subclass 103 (Parent visa): offshore application, permanent visa, non-contributory. The lowest application charge but with a currently published queue of around 29 years or more. In practice it is generally suitable only for younger parents as part of long-range planning;
- Subclass 143 (Contributory Parent visa): offshore application, permanent visa, contributory. The government charges per applicant currently come to around AUD 47,000+ (including the second instalment of the main applicant’s visa application charge), and processing times are significantly shorter than for Subclass 103;
- Subclass 173 (Contributory Parent — Temporary): offshore application, two-year temporary visa, contributory. It functions as a staged-payment arrangement, and the holder must move on to a Subclass 143 application within the two-year period;
- Subclass 804 (Aged Parent visa): onshore application, permanent visa, non-contributory. Requires parents to have reached age-pension age and to be lawfully in Australia at the time of application;
- Subclass 884 (Contributory Aged Parent — Temporary) and Subclass 864 (Contributory Aged Parent — Permanent): the onshore contributory equivalents, structured in the same two-stage way as Subclasses 173 / 143.
In making the choice, lower cost is not always more suitable.
If the parents are already 70 or older or have uncertain health, waiting 29 years or more for a non-contributory grant is rarely a realistic option, and the contributory pathway is often the more sensible choice.
Balance of Family Test
All Parent Visa subclasses (whether contributory or non-contributory, onshore or offshore) require the parents to satisfy the Balance of Family Test.
This is the threshold requirement most often underestimated, yet most often responsible for refusal.
Under the Migration Regulations 1994, the Balance of Family Test is satisfied where, of the parents’ total children, at least half are settled in Australia, or the number of children settled in Australia is greater than the number settled in any other single country.
“Children” here includes all biological, step- and lawfully adopted children of the parents, regardless of age, marital status or financial independence. In practice, common Balance of Family failures include:
- the parents have several children, but most of them remain in the home country and only one is in Australia;
- the child in Australia holds only a temporary visa (student, work etc.) and is not counted as “settled” in Australia;
- some children have already settled in a third country (such as the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom), creating a single other country with more children than Australia;
- a child is deceased or has lost contact, but there is no corresponding legal documentation.
Sponsorship and Assurance of Support
A Parent Visa application must be supported by an eligible sponsor and must include an Assurance of Support. Sponsorship and AoS are two independent but closely connected requirements.
On the sponsorship side, the requirements typically include:
- the sponsor must be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen;
- the sponsor must usually have been lawfully resident in Australia for at least 2 years before lodgement;
- the sponsor is generally the child of the applicant or that child’s partner; in some circumstances another eligible relative may sponsor;
- the sponsor must meet character considerations and have no serious criminal or family-violence record.
The Assurance of Support (AoS) is a mandatory requirement for Parent Visa applications (particularly contributory subclasses). Key points on AoS include:
- the AoS is separately assessed by Services Australia alongside the visa decision;
- the AoS period is 10 years, during which the assurer is liable to repay certain social-security payments received by the parents;
- the assurer must meet a statutory annual income threshold (adjusted each year) and must lodge a bond — currently around AUD 10,000 for the main applicant and around AUD 4,000 for each additional applicant;
- multiple assurers may combine their incomes to meet the threshold;
- the AoS bond is locked as a term deposit and is returned after the 10-year period, provided that no repayment obligation has been triggered in the meantime.
AoS is one of the most common points at which Parent Visa applications run into difficulty, particularly where the sponsor has variable income, has only recently settled in Australia or is self-employed.
It should be planned for well before lodgement.
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Contributory vs Non-Contributory: Strategic Choice
The most central and most personal decision in a Parent Visa matter is the choice between the contributory pathway (Subclasses 143 / 173 / 884 / 864) and the non-contributory pathway (Subclasses 103 / 804).
At heart, this is a trade-off between money and time. Key features of the non-contributory pathway (Subclasses 103 / 804):
- comparatively low government application charges (first and second instalments combined currently total around AUD 5,000);
- very long processing times — the currently published queue for Subclass 103 is around 29 years or more;
- onshore Subclass 804 applicants generally hold a Bridging Visa A (BVA) before grant, allowing lawful stay in Australia with work rights and access to Medicare (subject to BVA conditions);
- generally suitable for younger parents in good health who can accept a very long-term planning horizon.
Key features of the contributory pathway (Subclasses 143 / 173 / 884 / 864):
- substantially higher government charges — the main applicant’s second-instalment visa application charge is currently around AUD 43,600 (subject to the latest gazetted amount), with total per-applicant government charges in the order of AUD 47,000 or more;
- significantly shorter processing times — currently measured in years rather than generations;
- access to Medicare on grant of the permanent visa, and the long-term settlement benefits that flow from permanent residence;
- generally suitable for older parents, parents with uncertain health, or families who place a high value on bringing the parents to Australia sooner.
In practice, some clients choose the Subclass 173 → 143 staged-payment route, paying the first instalment for Subclass 173 and then, within two years, moving to a Subclass 143 application and paying the second instalment.
This eases the upfront payment burden but requires strict compliance with the time limits and documentation requirements of the 173-to-143 transition.
Health and Character Requirements
Parent Visa applicants must satisfy the standard health and character requirements under Australian migration law — specifically Public Interest Criterion 4005 / 4007 and the character provisions.
Given that Parent Visa applicants are typically older, health assessment is one of the most common areas of risk in these matters. On health:
- Parent Visa applicants must undergo medical examination at a panel clinic (including chest X-ray, HIV and hepatitis B testing), with assessment provided by Bupa Medical Visa Services;
- PIC 4005 (which applies to permanent visas) requires that the applicant’s health condition will not impose a Significant Cost Threshold (SCT) on the Australian community — currently around AUD 86,000 (cumulative expected cost over 10 years);
- PIC 4007 (which applies to certain visas) preserves the possibility of a health waiver, allowing a waiver based on compelling family, humanitarian or compassionate factors where PIC 4005 would otherwise be failed. It is important to note, however, that most Parent Visa subclasses — including 103 / 143 / 173 — apply PIC 4005, with no waiver available;
- common health conditions that may trigger refusal include kidney failure requiring long-term dialysis, advanced cancers, organ transplants requiring ongoing treatment, severe intellectual disability and serious mental-health conditions requiring long-term hospitalisation.
On character:
- applicants must usually provide police clearance certificates from every country in which they have lived for 12 months or more (cumulatively, since age 16) in the last 10 years;
- serious criminal records, family violence, or undisclosed past visa breaches may trigger character review;
- health and character concerns are usually raised by way of a Section 56 / Section 57 notice, giving the applicant a response window (typically 28 days).
Common Refusal Risks
Refusal risks in Parent Visa matters are concentrated in a handful of clearly identifiable areas. Properly assessing these risks before lodgement can avoid most common refusal scenarios. Common refusal grounds include:
- Failure of the Balance of Family Test: not enough children settled in Australia, or more children settled in a single third country;
- Sponsor does not meet the requirements: less than two years of Australian residence, character concerns, or AoS income shortfall;
- Health risk: PIC 4005 / 4007 triggered, particularly in cases of chronic illness, serious cardiovascular disease, or anticipated long-term treatment;
- Insufficient documentation: missing or non-compliant birth certificates, proofs of relationship, evidence of children’s status in Australia or past visa history;
- Contributory pathway time limits: failure to lodge the Subclass 143 application within two years of the Subclass 173 grant, or failure to pay the second-instalment VAC within the prescribed window;
- Character review triggered: non-disclosure of prior visa breaches, criminal records or family-violence history.
During case preparation, the NS Legal team carries out a systematic eligibility and risk pre-assessment so that all critical points have been positively addressed before lodgement.
How We Can Help
The difficulty in Parent Visa matters lies less in the visa provisions themselves than in strategic decision-making: choosing, from among several pathways, the one that best fits the family’s actual circumstances, and then translating that choice into well-prepared application material.
In Parent Visa matters, the NS Legal migration team typically assists clients to:
- review the visa status and country of residence of every one of the parents’ children, and confirm whether the Balance of Family Test is met;
- compare contributory and non-contributory pathways, and onshore and offshore options, on cost and timing, and provide strategy advice tailored to the client’s specific situation;
- confirm in advance the sponsor’s residence history, income level and AoS capacity, and where necessary structure a multi-assurer arrangement;
- assist the parents to undertake a health-risk pre-assessment ahead of medicals, especially in light of any known chronic conditions, and prepare PIC 4005 / 4007 response strategy;
- prepare a complete documentary package covering proof of relationship, family chains and historical visa records;
- provide ongoing legal support in scenarios such as Subclass 173 → 143 transitions, AoS repayment obligations and breach of visa conditions.
Our goal is to help clients make rational, executable and trackable choices among the various pathways within the Parent Visa framework, and to reduce as far as possible the uncertainty created by long waits, sudden changes in health or policy reform.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between non-contributory and contributory Parent Visas?
The core difference is in cost and processing time. The non-contributory subclasses (103 / 804) have a much lower application charge but a currently published queue of around 29 years or more. The contributory subclasses (143 / 173 / 884 / 864) currently involve government charges of around AUD 47,000 or more per parent, but with significantly shorter processing times. Whether the additional cost is worthwhile depends on the parents’ age, health and the urgency of family reunion.
What if the parents do not pass the Balance of Family Test?
If there are not enough children settled in Australia, or more children settled in a single third country, no Parent Visa subclass can in principle be granted. In that situation the first step is to assess whether other children are likely to migrate to Australia in the short to medium term, and to re-check the actual status of children counted as “in Australia” (some clients underestimate the impact of a child’s current visa status). If the test cannot be met in the short term, alternative interim arrangements (such as long-stay visitor visas) may be considered as a stop-gap.
If the sponsor’s income is not high enough, can the spouse or other relatives join in the assurance?
Yes. The Assurance of Support allows multiple assurers to combine their incomes to meet the threshold. Common arrangements include a child and the child’s spouse signing together, or multiple children signing together. It should be noted, however, that the AoS bond amount is not reduced by joint assurance, and all assurers are jointly and severally liable for any repayment obligation that may arise.
The parents are older and have chronic conditions — which pathway should we choose?
Where the parents are older and their health is uncertain, the contributory pathway is usually given priority, because the 29-year-plus wait under the non-contributory pathway is rarely a realistic option in practice. At the same time, because most Parent Visa subclasses apply PIC 4005 (with no waiver available), a health-risk pre-assessment should be completed before lodgement, particularly where there are issues such as kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes-related complications or advanced tumours. Targeted advice should be obtained before deciding on a direction.
Can the AoS bond be withdrawn before the 10 years are up?
Generally not. The AoS bond is locked as a term deposit by Services Australia and is only released after the 10-year period, provided that no repayment obligation has been triggered. If the parents draw any qualifying benefit during the 10 years which the assurer is required to repay, the relevant amount is first deducted from the bond.
For onshore 804 / 884 / 864 applications, can the applicant stay in Australia until the visa is decided?
Usually, yes. After a Subclass 804 / 884 / 864 application is lodged, the applicant generally holds a Bridging Visa A (BVA) and can remain in Australia lawfully while the substantive application is processed. The BVA typically carries work rights and Medicare access (subject to conditions varying by case). It should be noted, however, that any departure from Australia during processing should be preceded by a Bridging Visa B (BVB) application to allow re-entry, as otherwise the validity of the onshore application may be affected.
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