Last Friday, 5 August,one of our Subclass 143 clients received their visa grant— both parents —one parent was lodged in late July 2016and the other was added as a secondary applicant in 2021, with no impact on the queue position,the application reached the additional information stage in late June 2022, and the visa was granted on 5 August after the Contributory Parent payment was made!

Based on our clients’ experience,the Subclass 143 queue has now reached the additional information stage for applications lodged in September 2016.

However, the parent migration backlog across all categories remains extremely large,with 73,100 in the paid (contributory) stream alone,and an overall backlog of over 120,000 applications.With the current financial year quota at only 4,500,a wait of more than 10 years is a conservative estimate.

Tip 1: After your child’s PR is granted, lodge the Subclass 143 parent application as soon as possible — every day earlier could mean six months less waiting

Basic application process and requirements for the contributory parent visa:

1. Confirm the child can provide sponsorship:

1. Must be an Australian PR or citizen

2. Has been residing in Australia for at least 2 years

3. Meets the balance-of-family test — at least half of the applicant’s children have already migrated to Australia

2. Choose between the 143 or 864

If the applicant has reached Age Pension age at the time of application, they may apply for the Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa. Previously, the 864 was processed slightly faster than the 143, but to balance processing speeds on both sides, the Department has had the 864 on hold for quite some time.

The Subclass 864 can be lodged onshore and granted onshore, whereas the Subclass 143 can only be granted onshore under special COVID-related provisions — specifically, applications lodged before 24 March 2021 where the applicant was in Australia on 24 March 2021. Applications that do not meet both of these date requirements will still have the visa officer ask the applicant to depart Australia before the visa can be granted.

Age requirements for lodging the Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa:

4. When the visa officer notifies you that the application is being processed (additional information/further documents stage)

The financial assurance provider (which may be the sponsor or another Australian PR, citizen, or company) must provide proof of income for the past two financial years and evidence of the AOS payment; the applicant must also complete a health examination.

The income requirement for the financial assurance provider / sponsor is determined by the number of persons being assured, the number of minor children of the assurance provider, and the sponsorship history.

For more detailed application requirements and lodgement procedures for the contributory parent visa, please contact our client services team to arrange a consultation.

Tip 2: Even if your parents do not currently plan to, or have not yet considered, moving to Australia, we still recommend lodging a Subclass 103 first — as a precautionary measure.

The reason is the extremely large backlog of parent migration applications mentioned above,and if you wait until you have made up your mind before lodging, there is no telling how many more years the wait will be.

Lodge a Subclass 103 first, and when you are certain about migrating in future,you can convert it to a paid (contributory) parent visa at any time — when converting from a queuing-stream parent visa(such as the 103 or 804) to a contributory parent visa (such as the 143 or 864),the time already spent in the queue is counted towards the new application — that waiting time is not wasted.If the conditions are met in future, converting the Subclass 103 to the Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa onshore not only carries over the time already spent in the 103 queue, but also allows the applicant to hold a bridging visa and remain in Australia continuously while waiting for the grant!

In terms of costswhen lodging the Subclass 103you only need to pay the visa application charge for one primary applicant(in the 2022–23 financial year this was $4,623.84), which is enough to secure a place in the queue. If you later decide to convert to a contributory parent visa and need to, you can then add a second applicant — this way you save the $2,000+ Subclass 103 secondary applicant visa application charge!

For more detailed information, please see:Why should you at least lodge a Subclass 103 to get your parents into the queue after receiving PR?

103 converted to 143 — visa granted

As early as 2015 lodged the 103, converted to 143 on 1 April 2022 — granted just over 2 months later

Allows a longer stay, avoiding the hassle of repeated renewalsThe Subclass 870 visa has become an increasingly popular option. Ifthe Subclass 143 parent migration visa has already been lodged, the 870 allows parents to remain onshore and wait for the 143 grant.

CurrentlySubclass 870 sponsorship approval is taking around six monthsvisa processing generally takes 1–3 months— thereforewe strongly recommend starting preparations well in advance.

Ifyour parents are onshore holding a Subclass 600 visitor visa, you can apply for permission first and then lodge the Subclass 870 onshore directly for your parents.You will also need to check whetherthe original Subclass 600 visitor visa carries Condition 8503 — No Further Stayif this condition applies the process becomes significantly more complex — please contact us as early as possible for a direct assessment of the most appropriate lodgement pathway.

The Subclass 870 has a maximum validity of 10 years,however at the 5-year mark the holder must depart Australia for at least 90 days before renewing to stay for the next 5-year period. This visa cannot lead to permanent residency (if you are considering parent migration you will need to lodge a migration visa before the 870), so in practice this visa’s main advantage over a tourist visa is that it removes the hassle of parents travelling in and out of Australia repeatedly — and now

Processing timeline: processing runs in two stages — first the sponsor (child) obtains sponsorship approval, then the visa application is lodged. Estimated total processing time: 6–12 months. If your parents are onshore, please start preparing while their current visa is still valid.

Advantages:No requirements regarding qualifications, work experience, or assets. Allows a long stay in Australia with no balance-of-family test. Can stay for up to 5 years at a time, with a maximum of 2 grants totalling 10 years.

Sponsor requirements:The sponsor must be aged 18 or over and must be the applicant’s child or the child’s partner.

Sponsor financial requirements:If one person is sponsoring one parent, the sponsor’s income in the financial year prior to the application must be at least AUD $83,454.80. If one person’s income is not sufficient, the sponsor’s spouse’s income may be combined. The sponsor’s income and the spouse’s income must be in a ratio of at least 1:1.