Parent Visa

A Parent Visa enables parents of children who are Australian citizens or permanent residents to be sponsored for permanent residence in Australia.

Duration and Conditions

The visa grants permanent residence status.

Contributory Parent and Retirement Visa Categories

Note that due to the very limited number of parent visas available each year, the waiting time for parent visas is currently very long (10-15 years or more).

The Australian government has introduced "contributory" parent visa categories, which require the payment of a much higher application fee to cover medical expenses, but which are processed much faster than the old parent visa applications.

If you have considerable assets behind you, you could also consider applying for a 4-year Investor Retirement visa, which would also be processed faster.

Criteria

The main criteria are as follows:

1. The parent must be sponsored by a child who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. The sponsor must have been lawfully resident in Australia for at least 2 years.
2. The applicant must pass the "balance of family test". That is, the number of children who are lawfully and permanently resident in Australia must be:
   • Greater than, or equal to, the total number of children who are resident overseas; or
   • Greater than the greatest number of children who are resident in any single overseas country.
3. An assurance of support is required in all cases.

Do I Apply in Australia or Overseas?

In general, parent visas must be applied for outside Australia. However, it is possible to apply for an aged parent visa from within Australia. In order to do so, at least one of the applicants must meet the following age criteria:

• Males: 65 or over
• Females: 62.5 or over

If the application is lodged in Australia, the applicants will be able to remain in Australia on bridging visas whilst their applications for parent visas are being processed.