Australian Education and Migration Services

Parent Migration

Contributory Parent (Migrant) visa (subclass 143)

This visa lets you:

The Australian Department of Home Affairs operates a Parent Visa that is for people who have children living in Australia as permanent residents or citizens for a minimum of 2 years.

In order to qualify for this visa the applicant must meet what is referred to as the balance of family test.

This test states that the applicant must have at least half of their children living in Australia as an Australian citizen or permanent resident or that more of your children live in Australia than any other country. All children, including step children and adopted children of both parents are included in the balance of family test.

In addition to the balance of family test you must be sponsored by an eligible person, usually your child and you must meet the health and character requirements.

Visa types

Subclass 143

This is a permanent visa referred to as a “Contributory” visa. This is because the initial application fee is $4,155 for the first applicant and $2,075 for additional applicant over 18 and $1,040 for additional applicant under 18. However the second instalment for each applicant is $43,600. This visa takes approximately 4.5 years to process and is a permanent visa from approval.

The large “Contribution” of money that is called for upon the second instalment is in order to offset the rights that are awarded to the visa holder under permanent residency such as health care that they have not contributed towards throughout their lives as ordinary Australians have throughout their life by way of tax.

Subclass 173

This is a temporary visa with an initial Australian government fee of $2,800 and $1,400 for any additional applicant over 18 and $705 for additional applicants under 18. Before the visa is granted the second instalment of $29,130 is required to be paid. This visa takes approximately 3 to 3.5 years to process. The applicants are granted a 2 year temporary visa. Before this visa expires they must pay an additional $19,420 and apply for the permanent visa subclass 143.

In all cases the second instalment of monies paid is only called for after each applicant has passed health and character tests and the AoS (Assurance of Support, see below for AoS details) has been lodged with the Australian government. In no case will a second instalment be paid and a visa not granted. Second instalments are non-refundable in all cases.

Fees

The fees for Permanent Parent Visas are as follows; note all fees are in AUD

Application Fee – Main Applicant (at time of application)*
Dependant Application Fee (Spouse)*
$4,155
$2,075
2nd Visa Application Charge (at time of decision)* Main Applicant
2nd Visa Application Charge (at time of decision)* Spouse
$43,600 + $43,600

*1.32% Credit card surcharge applies.

Assurance of Support (AoS)

Additionally there is an AoS which is payable toward time of decision. For two applicants this is currently $14,000. The bond is refunded 10 years after you enter Australia as the holder of the contributory parent visa, less any debts owed to the Australian government.

If you are over 65 years old the Contributory Aged parent visa (subclass 864) may be more beneficial for you as you can stay in Australia while your application is being processed.

Medicare

If you’ve applied for a contributory parent visa (143 visa) and already have a temporary 173 or 884 visa you can enrol for medicare.

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