Parent Visas 

Being able to reunite with parents is important for many who have made Australia their home, having established a great career and possibly, having started a family of their own.

If an overseas national has since become an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident, or if they are an eligible New Zealand citizen, there are a few Parent visa options available to them to make this happen.

First, they would need to meet the balance of family test which requires each parent to have at least half of their children, or more children, living permanently in Australia than any other country.

If the parent is eligible to lodge an onshore Aged Parent visa, they would be able to remain in Australia during processing.

The Parent visas are split into two main categories:

Parent visa: unlike the Contributory Parent visa, this option is significantly cost effective but, the processing timeframes are much longer.

Parent visas are capped in accordance to however many spaces are available in each financial year and the date of lodgement. Once the application has been lodged and assessed against the relevant criteria, it can take a few years to move into a queue. The application will then move up the queue it estimated to take about 30 years for a decision to be made (subject to regular change).

Contributory Parent visa: this visa application process requires the applicants to pay more in application fees which will support Medicare and other services that will be available to once they have become a permanent resident. The application assessment process is much quicker.

The Contributory Parent visa process occurs in two stages. First, the temporary visa is lodged and once approved the applicant has 2 years to lodge the permanent stage.

Currently, the expected processing time from queue date is approximately 5 years (subject to change).

A bond or Assurance of Support may also be required.

Contact us to find out more.

Temporary Sponsored Parent 870 Visas

This is a temporary visitor visa that is available only to certain parents who are overseas and looking to travel to Australia to visit family while their own parent visa applications are being assessed. This is not a parent visa and does not provide Australian permanent residence.

Parents may be sponsored by their children, who are Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents, for up to 5 or 10 years.