The visas vary in terms of:
- Permanent or temporary visas
- Cost of visas
- Processing times
- Age
- Eligibility requirements to fulfil such as the ‘balance of family test’ and ‘assurance of support’
- Availability of a bridging visa to allow the applicant to remain in Australia while the visa is being processed
Frequently Asked Questions
What visa options are available for parents?
- This is a parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is in Australia, meaning you are ‘onshore’
- You will be granted a bridging visa associated with the application, and will be able to remain in Australia while it is being processed
- When being granted this visa, you must be in Australia
- To apply, you must be at the Australian pension age
- There is a queueing system in place for the Aged Parent visa. This means that you must be prepared to wait in a queue for the visa to be processed. According to the Department of Home Affairs website, new applications lodged that meet the criteria to be queued are likely to take many years for final processing
- The cost of applying for this visa is significantly less than for the Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) Visa (subclass 884)
- This is a parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is in Australia, meaning you are ‘onshore’
- This visa will allow you to live in Australia for two years once it is granted, with the option of applying for the permanent visa
- To apply, you must be at the Australian pension age
- You will be granted a bridging visa associated with the application, and will be able to remain in Australia while it is being processed
- When being granted this visa, you must be in Australia
- The cost of applying for this visa is considerable
- The processing time for this visa is far less than the than the Aged Parent Visa, though it may still take more than 10 years
- This is a parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is in Australia, meaning you are ‘onshore’
- This visa will allow you to live in Australia permanently
- You will be granted a bridging visa associated with the application, and will be able to remain in Australia while it is being processed
- To apply, you must be at the Australian pension age
- When being granted this visa, you must be in Australia
- The cost of applying for this visa is significantly higher than the Aged Parent Visa
- The processing time for this visa is far less than the than the Aged Parent Visa, though it may still take more than 10 years
- This is a parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is either in or outside Australia
- When being granted this visa, you must be outside Australia, unless certain criteria are met
- This visa will allow you to live in Australia for two years with the option of applying for the permanent visa
- The cost of applying for this visa is significantly higher than the Aged Parent visa
- The processing time for this visa is far less than the Aged Parent visa, though it may still take several years.
- This is a parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is either in or outside Australia, depending on certain circumstances
- When being granted this visa, you must be outside Australia, unless certain criteria are met
- This visa will allow you to live in Australia permanently
- The cost of applying for this visa is significantly higher than the Parent visa
- The processing time for this visa is far less than the Parent visa, though it may still take several years
- This is a parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is either in or outside Australia, depending on certain circumstances
- When being granted this visa, you must be outside Australia, unless certain criteria are met
- This visa will allow you to live in Australia permanently
- The cost of applying for this visa is significantly lower than the Contributory Parent visa
- The processing time for this visa is far longer than the Contributory Parent visa
- This is a temporary parent visa that is applied for when the visa applicant is offshore, unless certain circumstances apply
- A sponsorship application must be lodged and approved first before a visa application can be lodged. The visa can be granted when you are in or outside of Australia
- This visa allows you to stay in Australia for three to five years
- Further visa applications could facilitate a stay of maximum up to 10 years, but you must go offshore and spend 90 days outside of Australia before the next visa application can be made
- As part of the application, you will need to show that you genuinely intend to stay in Australia temporarily, and will not stay beyond the time you are permitted
- There is no requirement to satisfy the Balance of Family test for this visa
What are the eligibility requirements for parent visas?
Each parent visa has different requirements, which can be complex to navigate and find the best option. We recommend speaking with our expert migration lawyers to determine the best parent visa pathway for your family.
Some generally common requirements are explained below.
Sponsorship
Many parent visas require that the visa applicant be sponsored by an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen child over the age of 18 years.
The meaning of ‘child’ can be biological, adopted, step, and, in some circumstances, in-law parent-child relationships.
In some circumstances where the Australian child is under the age of 18, another relative or community organisation may be able to be the sponsor.
Some common aspects that may be relevant to a sponsorship application are:
- The sponsor’s Australian citizenship, permanent residency status, or eligible New Zealand citizen status
- Whether the sponsor child is ‘settled’ in Australia – i.e. that they have been usually resident in Australia
- Financial circumstances, such as whether the sponsor can financially support the visa applicant (this factor is relevant to many parent visas)
Balance of family test
The balance of family test is a requirement for many Australian parent visas. To meet this test, the applicant must have more children living in Australia than in any other single country. This means you count the number of biological, step, and adopted children residing in Australia, and compare that number to how many live in any other individual country—not the combined total of all countries outside Australia. If Australia has the largest number of resident children, the applicant passes the test.
For example, if a parent has two children living in Australia, one child in Canada, one in the US, and one in the UK, they would meet the balance of family test because Australia has more of their children than any other single country. It’s important to note that this test doesn’t add up all children living overseas; instead, it compares the number in Australia to the number in each other country separately.
The balance of family test applies to most permanent parent visas, but not to the Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870).
Assurance of support
An assurance of support is an agreement with the government to financially assist the migrating family member if and when necessary to ensure that the cost to the Australian community is minimised. The agreement is a contractual promise to repay any social security benefits (e.g. Centrelink payments) that are received.
Health and character requirements
There are also health and character requirements that must be met for a successful parent visa application.
To learn more about the visa types and eligibility requirements for parent visas, book a free 10 minute consultation online with one of our immigration lawyers.
