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Pathway

Australia Parent Residence Visas

Australia Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Australia's permanent Parent visas let a parent of a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen move to Australia.

Type
Permanent family residence
Sponsor
Settled Australian child
Core requirements
Sponsor, balance-of-family test, support, health, and character
What to know
Costs and waits vary sharply by stream
What it gives
If granted, Subclasses 103, 143, 804 and 864 provide permanent residence.
Main limit
These visas are not simple long-stay visitor visas.

Summary

Australia has several permanent Parent visas for a parent of a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen:

All four are permanent visas and all are capped and queued. Home Affairs' figures updated 9 July 2026 estimate 15 years for a new Contributory Parent application and 33 years for a new Parent or Aged Parent application. These are planning estimates, not guaranteed decision dates.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

The parent must have an eligible child who is settled in Australia and is an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. The child normally sponsors the parent; alternative sponsorship can be possible where the child is under 18.

The parent must pass the balance of family test. This happens if either:

The test counts the children and stepchildren of the applicant and their partner under detailed rules. Home Affairs cannot waive it, even for compelling circumstances. Map every child, country of usual residence and Australian status before applying.

The aged subclasses require the applicant to be old enough for the Australian Age Pension. They are onshore routes, but being physically in Australia does not guarantee a valid application: the current visa must permit onshore lodgment, and No Further Stay or other bars may apply.

Permanent Parent visas normally require an Assurance of Support before grant. This is separate from the visa sponsorship and can involve an income assessment and refundable bond. For Contributory Parent and Contributory Aged Parent visas, the assurance period generally runs for 10 years; for other covered visas it is generally up to 4 years.

All applicants must satisfy health, character, identity, government-debt and visa-history rules. Health can be especially important because these are permanent visas with long queues; final checks may occur many years after lodgment.

What This Route Allows

If granted, Subclasses 103, 143, 804 and 864 provide permanent residence. The holder can live, work and study in Australia indefinitely, enroll in Medicare if eligible, sponsor qualifying relatives later, and apply for citizenship if they meet the separate rules.

The initial travel facility normally lasts 5 years. After it expires, a permanent resident who leaves Australia generally needs a Resident Return visa to re-enter unless they have become a citizen.

Contributory visas buy access to a differently allocated and historically shorter queue; they do not buy guaranteed or immediate approval. Temporary contributory options—Subclass 173 and 884—can spread charges over two stages, but they are separate pathways and still require careful comparison.

What This Route Is Not

These visas are not simple long-stay visitor visas. They require the balance of family test and permanent-migration health, character and support requirements.

An onshore Subclass 804 or 864 application is not a promise that a parent can freely travel or work throughout a decades-long queue. The bridging visa's conditions, start date and travel rights control. Leaving Australia without the correct Bridging Visa B can end the ability to return on that bridging status.

The queue estimate is not a service standard. Home Affairs first assesses whether an application can enter the queue and later releases it for final processing when a program place is available. Rules, health and family facts must still be met at decision.

The Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (Subclass 870) is not a waiting-room version of permanent residence. It is a separate temporary, no-work route, and a person generally cannot apply for or hold it while a permanent Parent visa application of the prohibited type is in place.

Next Steps

  1. Map all children and stepchildren and run the official balance of family test.
  2. Confirm the sponsoring child is settled and has qualifying status.
  3. Compare the current 103, 143, 804 and 864 charges, queue estimates, location rules and likely Assurance of Support obligations.
  4. For an aged onshore route, check Age Pension age and every condition on the parent's current visa before lodging.
  5. Consider the temporary contributory 173/884 stages and Subclass 870 only as separate alternatives, not interchangeable labels.
  6. Budget for medical examinations, police records, second installments, support bonds, health insurance during waiting periods and possible professional help.
  7. Lodge through the method Home Affairs currently specifies. As of 2026, Subclasses 103, 143, 804 and 864 use online lodgment through ImmiAccount, while temporary contributory applications remain paper-based.
  8. Monitor the official queue page and keep addresses, family composition, passports and circumstances updated for the full wait.
Compare your options

Other routes in Australia.

Sources