The day before yesterday, on 21 June, we had a Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa granted

Today we had a Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa granted(sponsorship approved in late 2022, with the visa lodged shortly afterwards)

It is rare for parent visas to “hold out” until the very end of the financial year — particularly the migration categories. In the past few financial years, processing came to a complete standstill several months early once that year’s allocation was used up. This is also a snapshot of how parent migration has improved across the board this financial year.

More places + faster processing — let’s sum up the 2022–23 financial year, when parent migration and parent visas finally brought good news, and round up where processing currently stands.

Subclass 143/864 Contributory Parent Migration

2022–23 financial-year allocation: 6,800 places

The 2023–24 (new) financial-year allocation is also expected to be 6,800 places

Processing speed: Requests for further documents are wrapping up applications lodged before early May 2017. Grants are hovering around applications lodged in early 2017(this depends on how quickly applicants respond once asked for further documents)

Situation:

Subclass 143 is doing better this financial year than in the past few years thanks to the increase in the grant allocation, along with the Department of Home Affairs assigning more staff to processing. In the first half of the financial year we saw a lot of requests for further documents, and prompt responses pushed processing from grants for July/August 2016 lodgements at the start of the financial year to February/March 2017 lodgements by year’s end.

The peak was in November and December 2022, when Subclass 143 grants reached 912 and 780 in a single month, with 3,179 granted in the first half of the financial year.

Forecast for the new financial year: There has been no major change from before. Our earlier projection table was based on grant outcomes, and this financial year the allocation has essentially reached lodgements from around March–April 2017. In May/June we tried to ask the Department of Home Affairs for the number of applications lodged in each ten-day period (i.e. every 10 days, e.g. 1–10 May), but did not receive a useful data response, so for now we cannot produce a more detailed update to the processing table. Next financial year should mainly process applications lodged in July and June 2017.

Subclass 103/804 Queued Parent Migration

2022–23 financial-year allocation: 1,700 places

The 2023–24 (new) financial-year allocation is also expected to be 1,700 places

Processing speed: Grants have reached a queue date (QD) of around October 2011, and requests for further documents have reached a QD of around November 2011

Situation:

Queued parent migration is moving a little faster than previously calculated, partly because Subclass 103 granted a total of 427 places in the first half of the financial year, and partly, possibly, because after a full 10+ years’ wait — and with queued parent migration barely being processed during the pandemic — some Subclass 103/804 applicants switched to Subclass 143/864, leaving fewer applications in the pool.

One more thing worth adding: even if your parents have no intention of migrating right now, we still recommend at least lodging a Subclass 103 first. In the long run, parent migration still means a very long wait — no matter how much processing speeds up, it will be 10+ years. If you wait until the moment you actually want it, you’ll have to wait even longer. So lodging a Subclass 103 as a placeholder makes sense; for details see: Why you should lodge a Subclass 103 to queue your parents as soon as you get PR

Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa

No allocation cap

— the biggest change this financial year is that onshore lodgement is no longer permitted.Subclass 870 is normally lodged offshore, but earlier on, because of the pandemic, the Department of Home Affairs allowed applicants to first obtain permission to lodge onshore.Since around late last year, permission to lodge onshore has no longer been granted, which means parents must depart Australia to lodge.

— processing times for Subclass 870 have also sped up. Subclass 870 requires the child to obtain sponsorship approval first, and then the parent’s visa is lodged. At the start of the financial year the whole process took roughly six months or a little more; it is now about 4–6 months.

Visitor visa for parents of PR holders / citizens

— For parents who are offshore, applying for a 1-year or 3-year visitor visa is, in the overall visitor-visa climate, a pretty good option. With materials carefully prepared (such as bank statements, savings, pension proof, proof of employment and assets), the visa is generally granted smoothly. Processing is also fast, with the vast majority receiving a result within a month.

— For parents who are onshore, visa renewals warrant a particular warning: more and more first-time and repeat visitor-visa renewals for parents inside Australia are being refused.Now that the pandemic period is over, the Department of Home Affairs does not want people using the visitor visa as a “tool” to stay in Australia long term, so whether your parents have only been onshore for 12 months or have already renewed several times, we have recently received a lot of requests for help following refusals.

If you don’t want your parents enduring the strain of travelling back and forth and the anxiety of visa worries, the Subclass 870 visa is an option. If you have already been refused, or want to prepare in advance, see: Caution! Onshore visitor-visa renewals for PR holders’ parents are tightening again!? Refused after only 12 months!

Of course, you can also add our customer service team and we’ll arrange a consultant to help you in detail ~

On a side note:

Will parent migration be changed to a ballot system? We don’t think so in the short to medium term

Affected by the broader migration review, parent migration has also been “caught up” in it, with the review committee suggesting that Australia could follow Canada and New Zealand and switch parent migration to a ballot system. But this is only a very early-stage suggestion, and parent migration is not currently a focus for the Department of Home Affairs — there is a whole pile of things still to be decided around employer sponsorship and the points-based system.

We think it was largely reviewed and mentioned in passing, so there’s no need to panic ~

Overall, parent migration has had a pretty good financial year — here’s hoping the new financial year is even better!

More great reads

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Parent Migration / Visa Wrap-Up for FY2022–23 | Subclass 143 Blooms Too! Stay Cautious on Visitor Visas and Subclass 870 Changes

Subclass 485 gets an extra 2 years — now officially legislated! Effective immediately on 1 July!

Official! A profile of 49,000 skilled migrants from mainland China over the past four years is out!

Subclass 491 to 191 with zero income requirement! A full guide to the 491-to-PR requirements

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