The Australian Government has recently eased migration settings significantly — and we know many of you have already landed your visa. Congratulations!

We have been receiving lots of enquiries from people who have recently secured their own visas and now want to bring their parents to Australia to retire. You may have already noticed that the Department of Home Affairs has updatedparent visa processing times，, and the updated figures show wait times ofat least12 years!

Given waits this long, should you lodge now — or hold off and wait to see what happens?

Today we are giving you a full rundown oneverything you need to know about parent migration.

What Parent Visa Options Are Available?

Parent visas fall into two broad categories: Contributory (paid) and Queue (non-contributory).

Contributory

Contributory parent visas have relatively shorter wait times,but require a financial assurance and payment of a “contribution” fee to the Australian Government.This category includes:

Subclass 173 / Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa

Subclass 143 / Contributory Parent visa

Subclass 884 / Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) visa

Subclass 864 / Contributory Aged Parent visa

Subclass 173 and 884 suit applicants who cannot pay the contribution fee upfront in one lump sum — the fee can be paid in two instalments. However, compared to the single lump-sum payment required for Subclass 143 and 864, the total visa fees are higher and processing takes longer.

Queue (Non-Contributory)

Queue parent visas are lower cost and do not require payment of a contribution fee to the Government; however, because processing is currently extremely slow,many applicants are facing waits of more than 29 years. This category includes two visa types:

Subclass 103 / Parent visa

Subclass 804 / Aged Parent visa

How Do You Decide: Regular Parent Visa or Aged Parent Visa?

Now that you know the basic categories, you may be wondering: within the contributory or queue streams, which specific visa should you apply for? And how do you determine whether your parents qualify as “aged parents”?

Under the Migration Act, the definition of an “aged parent” is based onbeing eligible to receive the Age Pension as defined under the Social Security Act 1991.

As the table above shows,whether a parent is classified as “aged” depends on their date of birth. Depending on their birth date,the qualifying age ranges from 65 years and 6 months to 67 years.Use your parents’ date of birth to determine which visa type to apply for.

What Are the Requirements to Apply for a Parent Visa?

To sponsor a parent for a parent visa, three basic requirements must first be met:

– The sponsor is an Australian PR or citizen

– Has lived in Australia for two years (including periods on long-term temporary visas — most onshore skilled migrants can satisfy this as soon as their PR is granted)

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Once those three conditions are met, you are eligible to sponsor your parents. Below we cover some important additional points you need to know beyond these basic requirements.

What Is the

Balance of Family Test?

The balance of family test determines the extent to which a parent is connected to their children or stepchildren in Australia, ensuring that only those with strong ties to Australia are eligible for a parent visa. In other words, the balance of family test must be passed before a parent visa application can be made.

To satisfy the test, one of the following must apply:

At least half of the parent’s children and stepchildren are “eligible children”; or

More of the parent’s children are “eligible children” than are living in any other single country

Eligible children include:

Australian citizens

Australian permanent residents who usually reside in Australia

Eligible New Zealand citizens who usually reside in Australia

All of the parent’s children — including stepchildren and adopted children — are counted in the balance of family calculation. A child may be excluded from the count in special circumstances, such as if they have passed away.

To help you understand, refer to the table below for a quick guide to whether you are likely to meet the balance of family test:

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us directly.

Child’s Employment/Income

Is Unstable — Can They Still Sponsor Their Parents?

A parent visa application generally requires two types of sponsors. The first is thevisa sponsor, who is typically thechild, provided the requirements above are met.The second is thefinancial assurance provider (Assurance of Support), who can be thechild, the child’s spouse, another person, or even an external organisation。

financial assurance provider (Assurance of Support)

The purpose of requiring a financial assurance is to ensure that, once the parent’s visa is granted and they enter Australia,they do not need to rely solely or primarily on government support or assistance to live.

The financial assurance provider must meet certain income requirements.The specific amount depends on factors including how many people are being supported (e.g. one or both parents applying together) and the number of the assurance provider’s dependent children. You can use the Centrelink AoS calculator to work out your specific figure. As a general guide,sponsoring both parents on a Subclass 143 typically requires an annual income of at least AUD 54,000.

Importantly,financial assurance provider (Assurance of Support)does not need tomeet the income requirements or provide documents at the time of lodging the application.The relevant point in time iswhen your application reaches a case officer and you are asked to provide further documents (as noted above, even the fastest Subclass 143 will take over ten years to reach a case officer at current rates). In practice, the income requirements must be met during the Assurance of Support (AoS) process — meaning you need to satisfy the current financial year income and the previous financial year income at the time the AoS is being processed.

This means your current employment or income situation has absolutely no bearing on whether you can lodge a parent visa application now.

On a related note,the Department is currently requesting further documents for Subclass 143 applications lodged as far back as April 2017. If your application date is close to that point, make sure you prepare your previous financial year tax return, current financial year payslips, and an employment confirmation letter well in advance.

Wait Times Are Already This Long — Will They Get Even Longer?

Should You Apply Now?

With contributory parent visas currently taking 12 years and queue visas up to 29 years,many people may be tempted to wait it out, hoping that policy will improve before they apply.

However, parent visas are fundamentally different from skilled migration visas.Even if allocations are increased, they cannot possibly meet demand — and there are already over 60,000 backlogged Subclass 143 contributory applications.As an applicant, the only thing you can do is lodge as early as possible.

Parent visa applications are processed strictly in lodgement order.Within the same category, it will never happen that an application lodged in January 2017 is granted before one lodged in January 2015 has even been asked for further documents. In short: first lodged, first queued, first processed。

Right now, the only thing any of us can do is get in the queue — and get in it fast!

Whatever happens with policy, being in the queue earlier guarantees you are processed sooner. If policy improves while you are waiting, that is a windfall — and if policy stays the same, you are no worse off. But if you stay on the sidelines and policy does improve, you will join at the back of a queue that is already full of people who moved earlier. That is a very different story.

The best advice right now is to move quickly. Contributory visas are significantly faster than the free queue visas. For those with the financial capacity, we strongly recommend going straight for the contributory stream — with wait times as long as they are, there will be plenty of time to save up.

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