• Parent (Subclass 103) visa
• Aged Parent (Subclass 804) visa
• Contributory Parent visas -Temporary (Subclass 173) and Permanent (Subclass 143) visas
• Contributory Aged Parent  visas – Temporary (Subclass 884) and Permanent (Subclass 864) visas

In order for you to apply for one of the parent visas, you must:

• Have a child who is a settled Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen in Australia.
• Be sponsored by that child or the child’s partner.
• Satisfy the Balance of Family test.
• Meet the age requirement (currently 65 years of age for men and 60-65 years of age depending on date of birth for women) for Aged Parent (804) visa and Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary and Permanent) visas.
• Satisfy the character and health requirements.
• Provide an acceptable Assurance of Support (AOS) and AOS bond to Centrelink to cover any potential welfare or social payments during the first 2 years (parent category visa) or 10 years (contributory parent category visa) in Australia.
• Pay the second visa application charge for a relevant visa.

Generally, the AOS bond and second VAC are not required until all other requirements are met. When contacted by the case officer regarding the bond and second VAC, it means a relevant visa will be granted in due course if you provide the AOS bond and pay the second VAC.

What is the ‘Balance of Family’ test?

As seen above, one of the requirements is that you must pass this test which is considered to be met in the following circumstances:

• The number of your children who are eligible children (i.e. Australian citizens or permanent residents who are usually resident) is equal to or greater than the number of your ineligible children (resident in an overseas country).
• The number of your eligible children is greater than the number of your ineligible children in any single particular overseas country.

The Balance of Family test requires the following children to be counted:

• Children of both parents including children of previous relationships or marriages.
• Children whose whereabouts are unknown or cannot be verified.

Who can sponsor me?

One of your children sponsoring you for a parent visa must:

• Be at least 18 years of age in usual cases.
• Be an Australian citizen or a settled Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen.
• In case of permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens, have been lawfully resident for 2 years whether it was temporary or permanent residence.

How long is the waiting period?

Parent (Subclass 103) and Aged Parent (Subclass 804) visas are subject to ‘capping’. That is, the Minister may set the maximum number of visas that can be granted. Presently, the capping system in use is ‘cap and queue’, where once the target has been reached for that visa category in a program year, then no more visas can be granted and all applicants will need to be queued and processing of their applications frozen until  the start of the following program year.

What this means is if you apply for one of those parent visas, it is expected that you will have to wait up to 20 years in the queue.

However, for contributory parent visas, you are expected to wait just over 12 months until your application is allocated to a case officer.

Contributory Parent visas

There are four visa subclasses for the Contributory Parent visa category, namely:

• Contributory Parent (Temproary) (Subclass 173) visa
• Contributory Aged Parent (Temproary) (Sub 884) visa
• Contributory Parent (Migrant) (Subclass 143) visa
• Contributory Aged Parent (Residence) (Subclass 864) visa

The 173 and 143 visas are available to parents of any age from offshore, whereas the 884 and 864 visas are only available to aged parents onshore who are not subject to the ‘No Further Stay’ condition or s 48 restrictions.

For those applicants applying for the permanent Contributory Parent visas ( Subclass 143 and Subclass 864),a significant amount of second instalment visa application charge (VAC) ($48,550.00 per person as at 1 September 2013) is required to be paid.

If the 2^nd VAC is unaffordable, you may consider temporary parent visas which enable you to apply for corresponding permanent parent visas after 2 years. Under this transition scheme, you may alternatively choose to apply for a 2-year Contributory Parent (Temporary) (Subclass 173 or Subclass 884) visa first and pay the reduced 2^nd VAC ($29,130.00 per person as at 1 September 2013) with the option of changing to a corresponding permanent visa by paying the balance of the 2^nd VAC for a permanent visa ($19,420.00 per person as at 1 September 2013).

If you have been granted a temporary Contributory Parent visa, you are only able to apply for the corresponding permanent Contributory Parent visa (i.e. 173 to 143 and 864 to 884) or a medical treatment visa or a protection visa. See below.

If you are applying for a temporary Contributory Parent visa, you will not require an Assurance of Support (AOS) and the AOS bond before the grant of visa. After you make the transition to the corresponding permanent visa after 2 years, you will be only required to undergo a relaxed health check. But, before the corresponding permanent Contributory Parent visa can be granted, you must ensure that an AOS and AOS bond, which will be binding for 10 years from the date of arrival, are provided to Centrelink.

It should be noted that the AOS remains in force for 10 years regardless of whether or not you have obtained a different visa or have become an Australian citizen. Even if you have become a citizen, any form of government support paid to you in the first 10 years will have to be repaid by your assurer who provided the AOS.

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