Parent Visa

Parent Visas enable parents of children who are Australian citizens or permanent residents to be sponsored for temporary or permanent residence in Australia. There are currently two different types of visa; the faster, more expensive Contributory Parent visa, and the slower, less expensive standard Parent visa. Please note: The Temporary Sponsored Parent visa is discussed separately.

Duration and Conditions

All permanent parent visas have the right to remain in Australia indefinitely, but a travel validity of 5 years from grant. The Contributory Parent (temporary) visas are valid for 2 years, during which time the applicant must lodge a permanent Contributory Parent visa application.

Criteria

The main criteria are as follows:

1. The parent must be sponsored by a child who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. The sponsor must be "settled" - generally, this means lawfully resident in Australia for at least 2 years, though a shorter time may be acceptable for Australian Citizens.
2. The applicant must pass the "balance of family test". That is, the number of children who are lawfully and permanently resident in Australia must be:
   • Greater than, or equal to, the total number of children who are resident overseas; or
   • Greater than the greatest number of children who are resident in any single overseas country.
3. An assurance of support is required in all cases.

Contributory Parent Category

This category requires payment of a high second visa application charge, designed to support access to Medicare and any other services the applicant is eligible for upon becoming a permanent resident.

There are two types of contributory parent visa:

1. Contributory Parent (Permanent): This is a permanent visa which is generally processed in around 5-6 years. Total cost for the application is around $60,000 for one parent
2. Contributory Parent (Temporary): This is a 2-year temporary visa which is about two-thirds the cost of the permanent contributory parent. Applicants then need to apply for a permanent contributory parent visa within the 2-year validity of the visa. The total cost of applying is slightly higher than the permanent contributory parent visa, but it does allow fees to be split over two visa applications.

Standard Parent Category

This is the slow/cheap Parent visa option. 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. Currently, applications will process from lodgement to queue stage around 3-4 years. Once in the queue, parents can expect to wait a significant period of time (Immigration advises 25-30 years) until they reach the top of the queue for a visa decision. Fees for this visa application total around $12,000 for one parent.

Can I be in Australian when I apply?

It is possible to apply for a Parent visa from within Australia, however, it is only possible to lodge an onshore Aged Parent or Aged Contributory Parent visa and obtain a bridging visa to remain in Australia during processing if at least one of the applicants meets the age requirements as set for an Australian pension, as follows:

Period within which a person was born	Pension Age	Date pension age changes
From 1 January 1954 to 30 June 1955	66 years	1 July 2019
From 1 July 1955 to 31 December 1956	66 years and 6 months	1 July 2021
From 1 January 1957 onwards	67 years	1 July 2023