Bringing a parent.
How long is the wait, really?
Decades, on the Department's own published estimates, and this is the fact everything else depends on. It is worth understanding why before looking at any of the visas.
Every parent visa is capped and queued. There is a maximum number the Department may grant each program year; once it is reached, everything else waits in a queue until a place comes free in a later year. Applications are assessed in lodgement order, given a queue date if they meet the core criteria, and released for final decision years later.
Those are the applications actually released for final decision by that date, which is what makes the estimates above believable rather than pessimistic. Both sets of figures are the Department's, read on 23 August 2026, and it updates them. Check the current queue release dates.
Can your parents apply at all?
One test decides it, and it has nothing to do with money or health. The balance of family test asks where your parents' children live, and if they fail it every permanent parent visa is closed to them.
You pass if at least half of your children and stepchildren are eligible children, or if more of your eligible children live in Australia than in any other single country.
An eligible child is an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident usually resident here, or an eligible New Zealand citizen usually resident here. A child in Australia on a temporary visa does not count as usually resident. Every other child counts as living overseas.
The Department sets out how the test is counted, including which children are left out of the count and how stepchildren are treated, on its balance of family test page. It is worth working through before anything else, because it is the one answer that can be reached in an afternoon.
What are the actual options?
Five, and the choice really comes down to two columns: what it costs and how long it takes. The first four end in permanent residence. The last one does not, and is the only one with a timeframe most families can plan around.
| Visa | Cost | Wait | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subclass 103 Parent Apply from outside Australia | From AUD 8,665 | About 33 years | The cheap route, and the reason almost nobody uses it. Permanent residence at the end, on an estimate longer than most applicants have. |
| Subclass 804 Aged Parent Apply from inside Australia | From AUD 8,665 | About 33 years | The same visa for a parent who is already here and old enough to receive the Australian age pension. The wait is the same, but a bridging visa usually lets them stay while it runs. |
| Subclass 143 Contributory Parent Apply from outside Australia | From AUD 49,900 | About 15 years | Paid in two instalments, the second one large and due before the visa is granted. Per parent, not per couple. |
| Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent Apply from inside Australia | From AUD 49,900 | About 15 years | The onshore equivalent, for a parent already here who is old enough for the age pension. |
| Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) Sponsor approved first, then apply | From AUD 6,370 for 3 years | Not queued Temporary only | Not in the queue at all, and the practical answer for many families. A long visit rather than a move: 3 or 5 years at a time, no work, and a lifetime maximum of 10 years in Australia on it. |
The contributory and non-contributory permanent parent visas also need an Assurance of Support: a guarantee to the Department that the parent will not rely on government payments for a set period after arriving. It does not have to come from the sponsor, or even from a family member — an individual, several people together, or an organisation can give it. The Department asks for it when it is ready to, which on these visas can be many years after lodgement.
Is the Sponsored Parent visa the answer?
For a lot of families, yes — as long as everyone understands it is a long visit and not a move. It is the one parent route that is not capped or queued, which is why it exists and why it is worth taking seriously.
- It is not capped or queued, so it is decided in an ordinary timeframe
- There is no balance of family test and no Assurance of Support
- Three or five years at a time, and further visas can be applied for
- It is temporary. It leads to no permanent visa and no citizenship
- The holder cannot work in Australia
- Ten years is the lifetime maximum across all these visas — after that they must leave or qualify for something else
- A sponsor has to be approved before the visa application can even be lodged, and the application then has to follow within 6 months
Bringing a child.
How is a child visa different?
In almost every way that matters. A child visa is not capped and not queued: it is an ordinary application, decided on its merits, in an ordinary timeframe. Nothing on the first half of this page applies to it.
Which of the two you use is decided by where the child is when the application is made — subclass 101 if they are outside Australia, subclass 802 if they are here. There is no balance of family test and no Assurance of Support. Both are permanent from grant. The child can live, work and study here indefinitely, enrol in Medicare, sponsor relatives later, and apply for citizenship when they are eligible.
Whose child
A dependent child of a parent who is an Australian citizen, an eligible New Zealand citizen, or the holder of an Australian permanent visa. That parent sponsors the application.
How old
Under 18. Or 18 to 24 and a full-time student who depends financially on the parent. Or over 18 and unable to work because of a disability.
And still dependent
The child must be single and dependent on the parent. A child who has married, or entered a de facto relationship, or become financially independent, generally falls outside it — which is why the age brackets above are worth reading before a birthday passes.
The full criteria are on the Department's pages for subclass 101 and subclass 802. Adoption, orphan relatives and the dependent child of a provisional partner visa holder each have their own subclass, so if none of the above quite describes your situation it is worth asking rather than assuming.
Where do these sit against each other?
Far apart, and the Department publishes the order. Since 25 July 2026, Ministerial Direction 117 sets the sequence in which family visa applications are considered — and children are near the top of it while parents are at the bottom.
- Applications that have been subject to ministerial intervention
- Partner and dependent child applications
- Orphan relative applications
- Contributory parent and contributory aged parent applications
- Carer applications
- Parent, aged parent, remaining relative and aged dependant relative applications
That ranking sits on top of the capping and queuing, not instead of it — a contributory parent application is ahead of a non-contributory one in the order and still measured in years. And priority is only queue position: every requirement still has to be met, and the Department still decides. Read the current family visa processing priorities.
Parents and children, answered plainly.
Find out where your family actually stands.
Where all the children live, how old your parents are, whether anyone is already here and on what visa. That is enough for Jenny to work through the balance of family test with you, say which of the routes is realistic, and tell you plainly when the answer is that the money would be better not spent. If a case has little prospect she will say so in writing before you commit to anything.
Indicative guidance only, not migration advice. Your details stay private.
Written and checked by Jenny Satya Graha, Registered Migration Agent MARN 0429372. Every requirement, charge and waiting estimate on this page was checked against the Department of Home Affairs on 23 August 2026; the queue figures are its own, as at 31 May 2026. Criteria and charges are set by the Australian Government and change often. Check the current parent visa queue release dates and the Department's page for each subclass to confirm anything above, including the eligibility requirements that apply to you.