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Speaking of grants, three of Australia’s major media outlets today turned their attention once again to the Australian parent migration program’s extraordinarily unreasonable waiting times

Parent-migration backlogs have grown exponentially over the past 20 years

Queue (non-contributory) stream — with waits of 20 to 30 years, it is effectively impossible to reach the front of the line. The backlog has held steady at around 50,000 applications since 2014–15.

Contributory (paid) stream — now the only realistic option, with the backlog climbing year on year. According to the data we obtained up to the end of May this year, the contributory parent visas (Subclass 143 + 864) had, by the end of May, reached a total backlog of around 83,000 applications.

In stark contrast to the backlog is the number of parent visas granted each financial year

As we have said many times before, the core problem with parent migration remains the insufficient annual grant quota — and year after year, the snowball only grows larger.

Researchers suggest that people may not leave Australia over the parent-migration issue itself, but prospective migrants may well reconsider their desire to come here.After the pandemic, people may feel more keenly than ever that “the ability to always see the people you want to see may not last forever”. As a result, more people now prefer to bring their parents to be near them, which has only fuelled demand for parent migration further.

Without major reform to the system, all an applicant’s family can do is move quickly — and wait. Last week we also updated our latest parent-migration waiting-time projection table; for details, see: The latest Subclass 143/103 parent-migration backlog figures and updated waiting-time projection table are here! With an overview of the various parent-related visas!

That said, with a backlog of 100,000+ weighing on the system, any reform is bound to be a far-reaching and complex undertaking.