Navigating Parent Visa Australia Options

Migrate to Australia as a Parent

The Parent Visa Australia program and its visa subclasses can appear to be quite daunting at first glance. We have recently received great news from the government for Australia parent visas , as part of this year’s federal budget.

Currently the wait for the contributory parent visa exceeds 5 years, therefore the change could drop the processing time significantly.

More parent visa Australia to be made available, treasurer Jim Chalmers says, so when it comes to family visas, more parent visas will be available, with the government increasing the allocation from 4,500 in 2021-22, to 8,500 this financial year.

Parent Visa Australia Overview

One of the first things to go over is just what a Parent Visa Australia is. First and foremost, a Parent Visa Australia is a type of visa dedicated to those who are the parents of a child that is a settled Australian Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident, or an eligible New Zealand Citizen. The visa allows the parents to stay in Australia permanently.

However, in applying for the Parent Visa Australia there are some important factors that need to be considered before someone moves forward with applying.

One of the most important criteria for a Parent Visa Australia of any type is the Balance of Family test. This requirement is laid out in Regulation 1.05 of the Migration Act, meaning that at-least half of the children of the parent applicant must be settled in Australia. There is no official definition for ‘settled’ however in practice we usually recommend that the child has been living and working in Australia for at least two years.

It also stipulates that more of the children must be resident within Australia over other countries of residence. In the event a child’s location is unknown, the regulations will take the last known location as their permanent choice of residence.

However, there are circumstances under which a child is not eligible to be counted under the balance of family test. These include children that have been moved from their parents’ legal custody, either through court order or adoption.

Other circumstances under which an individual may be considered ineligible is if they are resident in a country that they suffer from abuses of human rights or are persecuted, rendering them unable to be effectively reunited with their parent due to circumstances outside of anyone’s control.

Finally, if the child is a member of a refugee camp operated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or even a refugee themselves that have been registered with the commissioner they will not be counted as part of the balance of family test.

Parent Visa Australia Options – Parent 103 Visa and Aged Parent 804 Visa

Within parent visa Australia program, we find the subclass 103 Parent (Migrant) Visa, the subclass 804 Aged Parent (Residence) Visa and the Contributory Visas. The subclass 103 Parent (Migrant) visa can be lodged offshore, it is subject to the balance of family test, and it takes many years to process, it is not a recommended option due to the length of the processing time.

The subclass 804 Aged Parent (Residence) is preferred by most parents because it can be lodged in Australia from a substantive visa (such as a tourist visa), the parents receive a bridging visa A and are allowed to wait onshore for the visa to be processed, which could take years. While on the bridging visa A, the parents are allowed to work and must hold a private health insurance as they do not receive Medicare.

The Aged Parent Visa is subject to the age of retirement, basically one of the parents must be of Australian retirement age at the time of lodgement. The retirement age is calculated based on a period within which the person is born, and we already know that the age pension will be increased to 67 years old from 1 July 2023.

Assurances of Support bonds are mandatory for parent visas and are usually in place for two years. The cost for these two subclasses is $5,000 for the primary applicant, and $2,000 for any additional adult secondary applicants that are being brought in for the visa subclasses.

Parent Visa Australia Options – Contributory Parent 143 Visa and Contributory Aged Parent 864 Visa

The Australian Contributory Parent Visa subclasses are also required to pay the Assurances of Support but are at a much higher cost, $10,000 for the Primary Applicant, and $4,000 for any adult secondary applicants. Contributory Visa subclasses are also known to differ in a few other aspects as well.

The first way in which these visas are known to be more different from the traditional Parent Visas is in the presence of temporary visas. Both the Contributory Parent (Temporary), subclass 173 and the Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary), subclass 884 exist as a transitionary first step visa for going to the more permanent visa subclasses.

Specifically, the Contributory Parent (Migrant) subclass 143 and the Contributory Aged Parent (Residence) subclass 864 are the permanent options that will require an individual to be able to have stayed on a temporary visa first.

Parent Visa Australia – Processing Time

The second key difference that exists with the contributory visa subclasses is in the processing times for the visas. For many that are seeking to come to Australia with a parent visa, this is the primary advantage that these Visas come with. Presently, the times for the contributory parent visas are estimated to take around a much shorter amount of time to process compared to the processing times of normal parent visas by a very considerable amount.

Current estimates on processing times for the parent visas, for example, are sitting at 30 years for going through processing from start to finish. This is a very considerable wait-time. However contributory Parent Visas, by contrast, are on a much shorter amount of time for processing the entire visa in comparison. They are only on a processing time of approximately 5 years or 60 months from lodgement.

This makes the Australian contributory visa pathway the more logical choice for many individuals that are seeking to be with their children in Australia. While there are bridging visas that can aid in this, the processing time necessary for traditional Parent and Aged Parent Visas are much more considerable compared to that of a contributory parent Visa subclass.

As such, it is no surprise that many people will often go for the contributory parent classes of visas over those of the more traditional counterparts. However, even with these subclasses there is another difference between them that may make them less attractive to some.

Parent Visa Australia – Costs

For the Subclass 103 and 804 Visas, the lodgement fees are $6,625 for the initial lodgement of the visas. This makes them the cheaper option to ultimately go for in comparison to other options, despite the considerable time investment that is required until the grant of the visa. By contrast, however, while the time investment on a contributory Parent Visa is far lesser than what is seen in a subclass 103 or 804 it is still hobbled by the fact that it has a considerable buy-in and cost for applying for it.

For a temporary contributory parent Visa subclass 173, for example, you would be looking at a total of $32,065. Conversely, the cost for a temporary contributory aged parent subclass 884 is $33,485. Meanwhile, the cost for the Subclass 143 Contributory Parent Visa is equal to $47,955 for the entire process.

The cost for a Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent Visa is $47,955. All of these costs are, despite the shorter time to process, able to add up over a long period of time to far more of an expense then what the typical Subclass 804 and Subclass 103 visas are.

Even the temporary Visas of the subclass are worth well over double the amount of both of these subclasses that it can seem to be a more enticing option especially given the desire to settle with your children on a more permanent basis without fears of being rejected.

Parent Visa Australia – Planning Levels

A final consideration that needs to be kept in mind is the fact that the government allocates a certain number of places for the parent visa program and these number change every financial year. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the amount for the parent visas allotted for the period of 2021-2022 planning levels was 4,500. Conversely, the amount for the period of 2022-2023 is currently set to be around 8,500.

The current planning levels can be found on the official website. We have also covered this information in our article Australia skilled visa and migration quota 2022-2023.

Contact Visa Lounge Australia team of migration specialists to assess your eligibility for Australia Parent Visa and start the process as soon as possible.