About This Visa 

To apply for a contributory parent visa application, you must be the parent of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, who is 'settled' at the time the application is lodged. You must also satisfy the balance of family test.

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The contributory parent visa category are not subject to queuing arrangements like the non-contributory parent visas. This means applicants will not be given a queue date and will also received their visa much faster due to shorter processing time.

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Main criteria

The Australian Department of Home Affairs operates a Parent Visa that is for people who have children living in Australia as permanent residents or citizens for a minimum of 2 years.

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In order to qualify for this visa the applicant must meet what is referred to as the balance of family test. This test states that the applicant must have at least half of their children living in Australia as an Australian citizen or permanent resident or that more of your children live in Australia than any other country. All children, including step children and adopted children of both parents are included in the balance of family test.

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In addition to the balance of family test you must be sponsored by an eligible person, usually your child and you must meet the health and character requirements.

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Who Can Sponsor Me?

Being a sponsorship based visa, applicants must be sponsored by their child, or spouse of one of their children. It is preferred that your sponsor is above the age of 18 and is a settled Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen. However, there are circumstances where a child under the age of 18 can be your sponsor.

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The Government also permits community organisations to sponsor your application provided:

• Your child and the organisation has a relationship

• The senior representative of the organisation agrees to sponsor you

• The organisation is lawfully established in Australia

• The organisation has been operating in Australia for at least one year

• The organisation is financially stable

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Visa types

 

Subclass 143 

 

This is a permanent visa referred to as a “Contributory” visa. This is because the initial application fee is $4,155 for the first applicant and $1,400 for spouse. However the second instalment for each applicant is $43,600. This visa takes approximately 3.5 to 4.5 years to process and is a permanent visa from approval.

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The large “Contribution” of money that is called for upon the second instalment is in order to offset the rights that are awarded to the visa holder under permanent residency such as health care that they have not contributed towards throughout their lives as ordinary Australians have throughout their life by way of tax.

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Subclass 173 

 

This is a temporary visa with an initial Australian government fee of $2,800 and $1,400 for spouse. Before the visa is granted the second instalment of $29,130 is required to be paid. This visa takes approximately 3 to 3.5 years to process. The applicants are granted a 2 year temporary visa. Before this visa expires they must pay an additional $19,420 and apply for the permanent visa subclass 143.

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In all cases the second instalment of monies paid is only called for after each applicant has passed health and character tests and the AoS (Assurance of Support, see below for AoS details) has been lodged with the Australian government. In no case will a second instalment be paid and a visa not granted.  Second instalments are non-refundable in all cases.

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Assurance of Support (AoS)

The assurer must:

• give sufficient financial support so that you or any accompanying family members do not have to rely on any government support, and

• reimburse the Australian Government for any recoverable social security payments, this includes payments made by Centrelink to you and any others covered by the Assurance of Support

• pay a refundable security bond before the visa is approved

The Assurance of Support is required to remain in place for two years from the date you and any accompanying family members arrive in Australia.

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An Assurance of Support (AoS) is a legal undertaking by the sponsor, family relative, an organisation, or any other person who may be eligible to be an assurer, to repay certain social security payments to the Australian Government which has been paid to a person or their family members applying to migrate to Australia during their AoS period.