• MARA-registered migration agent, CTO of the Newstars Group, Senior Education and Migration Consultant at the Melbourne office, writing under the pen name ‘Mi Tu Wei Yuan’ (Not Too Far Astray).

• With extensive experience in migration and study-abroad matters, Jason specialises in solving complex visa problems through migration law, handling a wide range of challenging cases, and has authored dozens of in-depth migration and study-abroad articles for Newstars — helping applicants understand not only what to do, but why.

•Many people consider applying for a parent visa once they receive their PR — especially only children, who hope to care for their parents in Australia in the future. However,quite a few delay because their parents haven’t retired yet— and this is trulya serious mistake.

• The truth is that, regardless of your situation, you shouldlodge at least a Subclass 103 queue application as early as possible. This article explains why in detail.

• First, let’s clarify the issue of processing times.The Subclass 103 Parent visa, at the current rate of progress,takes more than 30 years. You read that correctly — based on current quotas and the existing backlog, a newly lodged Subclass 103 application may not be processed within the applicant’s lifetime.

• What about the Subclass 143 or 864?According to Department data, the Subclass 143 is currently processingapplications lodged in September 2016, while the Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa is processingapplications lodged in February 2017. Furthermore, the Department has made clear that Subclass 864 applications lodged after February 2017 will need to wait until the Subclass 143 processing queue ‘catches up’, after which both will be processed together in order of lodgement date.(In other words, the Subclass 864 used to be processed slightly faster than the Subclass 143 — after that point, the processing speed will be the same.)

The biggest benefit: securing your place in the queue, with the option to switch to a contributory visa at any time

• The biggest practical benefit of lodging a Subclass 103 Parent visa is that,it secures a place in the queue for parents who aren’t yet certain whether they’ll migrate to Australia in the future,so that when the time comes and theydecide to migrate, they canswitch to a contributory visa categoryat any time(if migration plans remain undecided, the Subclass 103 application can simply sit in the queue for 20–30 years).

Under Department policy,when a queue-based parent visa (such as the Subclass 103 or 804) is converted to a contributory parent visa (such as the Subclass 143 or 864),the time already spent in the queue is counted towards the new application.(Note: if you convert from a Subclass 143 to a Subclass 864, the Subclass 143 queue time iscannot be countedtowards the Subclass 864 queue time!!!)

An example:

• – Suppose Li Lei’s father lodged a Subclass 103 queue application on 1 January 2013. The Subclass 103 hasn’t been processed to that date yet. But if the Subclass 103 is converted to a Subclass 143 at this point,it would be treated as if the Subclass 143 had ‘already’ been lodged in 2013. Since the Subclass 143 has already been processed up to 2016, this application — treated as lodged in 2013 — would be processed immediately.

• – Of course, if Li Lei’s father only lodged his Subclass 103 on 1 January 2018, converting to a Subclass 143 now would treat the application as lodged on 1 January 2018. Since the Subclass 143 is currently only processing up to 2016,Li Lei’s father would still need to wait until all Subclass 143 applications lodged before 2018 have been processed.

• Interestingly, in the scenario above, if Li Lei’s father had not yet reached the aged parent age threshold when he lodged his Subclass 103 on 1 January 2018,but had reached the aged parent age threshold by today (28 July 2022), was holding a visitor visa and was physically in Australia, and had no Condition 8503, then Li Lei’s father could lodge a Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa onshore.This means not only that the earlier Subclass 103 queue time is counted,but he can also hold a bridging visa to wait for the grant in Australia!!!(To emphasise again: converting from a Subclass 143 to a Subclass 864 means the Subclass 143 queue timewill not becounted towards the Subclass 864 queue time!!)

Cost 1: Lodging the Subclass 103 parent queue application

• Lodging a parent visa essentially just involvespaying the visa application charge plus agent fees(which you can save if you apply yourself — DIY). Note that when lodging a Subclass 103,you only need to lodge for one person first!!! This meansyou only pay the visa application charge for the primary applicant(which was $4,623.84 in the 2022–23 financial year) to secure the queue position, andyou can add the second applicant later if you decide to convert to a contributory parent visa.This saves you over $2,000 in visa application charges for the Subclass 103 secondary applicant!

• Additionally, it is advisable to put the older parent as the Subclass 103 applicant, so that they can qualify for the Subclass 864 Aged Parent visa sooner.

There’s also an interesting piece of knowledge worth noting: if a Subclass 103 is lodged and after 20–30 years migration to Australia is still not planned — if retirement in China seems more appealing and the applicant passes away there — and if the Subclass 103 has neither been granted nor refused at the time of death,a Form 1424 can be submitted to request the Department refund the Subclass 103 visa application charge.

Cost 2: Converting to a Subclass 143 or 864 later

• One important point to understand is that converting a Subclass 103 to a Subclass 143 or 864 in the futureis not a free direct conversion. Rather, itis equivalent to lodging a brand new Subclass 143 or 864 application, so you will need to pay the Subclass 143 or 864 visa application charge at the rates applicable at that time. For example:

• If a Subclass 103 was lodged in 2016 and you convert to a Subclass 143 in 2022,you would pay the Subclass 143 visa application charge at the 2022 rate,not the 2016 rate (the 2022 Subclass 143 charge is several hundred dollars more than in 2016).

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• Potentially larger costs to be aware of

As most people know, the current contributory fee for the Subclass 143 or 864 is $43,600 per person — a figure that has not changed for ten years. If, during the Subclass 103 queue period, this contributory fee rises to $100,000 per person, thenconverting from a Subclass 103 to a Subclass 143 after the fee increasewould meanpaying the new $100,000 per person contributory fee(though in practice, such a large increase all at once would be unusual).

Of course, if you hadn’t lodged a Subclass 103 to begin with and insteadlodged a Subclass 143 directly, then any subsequent fee increase would not affect you — you would still pay the contributory fee as it stood at the time the Subclass 143 was lodged. This is because the contributory fee is effectively a type of visa application charge (the charge paid at lodgement is called the First Instalment; the contributory fee paid before grant is called the Second Instalment) — but we won’t go into that further here.

• If you are completely unsure whether your parents will want to retire in Australia in the future, then you should still queue a Subclass 103 application just in case,because the cost really is low,and it keeps an ongoing ‘jump-the-queue’ option available, with the ability to convert to a contributory visa at any time once you’ve made your decision.

• If your parents don’t yet meet the definition of ‘aged parent’ (typically 67 years of age), it is still perfectly worth lodging a Subclass 103 application first.Once they reach the aged parent threshold, they can apply for a visitor visa to enter Australia and then lodge a Subclass 864 Aged Parent visa — allowing the family to reunite in Australia sooner. The only consideration in this scenario is the potential additional costs involved.

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