Over the past couple of days, the Department has issued a large batch of Parent visa Queue Letters for applications lodged in 2023, and we received dozens over the weekend.

Taking this opportunity, let us walk through it all systematically:

Queue Letter and Queue Assessment processing progress

The latest Parent visa processing progress

What is a Queue Letter / Queue Assessment (QL/QA)?

We have written about Queue Letters before. Originally, only the queued (non-contributory) categories received a Queue Letter / Queue Assessment (QL/QA),but after COVID, processing times for the contributory categories blew out significantly. For applications lodged today, the Department estimates a 33-year wait for queued categories and 15 years for contributory categories,so during COVID the Department began conducting Queue Assessments for contributory categories as well.

The Department will generally conduct an initial review of the application to confirm the basic requirements are met,such as the balance-of-family test, the sponsor’s residency requirement, and for the Aged categories health and police checks, and will then issue the Queue Letter.In essence, it confirms that your visa application has been received and seen, but it is still some way off being fully processed — so please be patient.

Should I be worried if I have not received a QL/QA?

Every Queue Letter emphasises this, and we emphasise it again:Your actual place in the queue is set by the date you lodged your application, not by the date the Queue Letter is issued. For example, for a 143 visa I received a Queue Letter over the weekend, but the letter clearly states the lodgement date as May 2023.

Clients frequently ask us whether processing is based on the date the Queue Letter is issued.

The answer is no. A Queue Assessment sometimes involves a request for further information, which can delay the Queue Letter — but this does not affect processing order.

Please remember:Your place in the queue is your lodgement date. The same applies to the 103 visa.

Securing longer visitor visas for parents

In the past, a Queue Letter did not serve much practical purpose beyond, during an extremely long wait,giving applicants a “we have not forgotten you” acknowledgement.Now, however, it carries a very practical value:when applying for a visitor visa for parents, attaching the Queue Letter generally allows the Department to grant a visitor visa of up to 5 years validity, with stays of up to 1 year per entry.

We also want to share the latest Parent visa processing progress.

Contributory categories:

OfficialProcessing has reached the end of October for now.

On our client side,the most recent request-for-further-information notices for contributory applications have been issued up to around 20 September 2018.

Queued categories:

June 2013 saw a huge volume of lodgements, and this financial year will likely still be processing that month.

Requests for further information have been coming through quickly overall recently,especially the Centrelink assessments, which are very fast,but as I have mentioned many times, during the first half of the financial year — and the past few months in particular — both request-for-information notices and grants have been processed quickly.It is quite possible that, as has happened before, the quota will be used up early around March or April. If there is no grant quota left in the following months, further grants will have to wait until the next financial year.

We have also recently pulled the Parent visa grant data for the past six months. If there are any updates we will share them, and our routine semi-annual Parent visa projection table will be updated as well. Finally, we wish everyone a reunion with their family as soon as possible!

Once a child has obtained permanent residency, we recommend lodging a Parent visa application to join the queue — regardless of whether the parents plan to settle in Australia in the short term. Parents who want to stay in Australia long-term to help care for the grandchildren without renewing their visa repeatedly can apply for the Subclass 870 long-stay Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa. If you need a seamless transition between a visitor visa and the 870, we suggest lodging the 870 application at least six months in advance.