There are many Australian visa options for Parents of settled Australian Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents and eligible New Zealand Citizens. In recent years the Temporary Sponsored Parent Visa was introduced for parents to visit their children and grandchildren for 3 or 5 years. This visa can be used while waiting for a Permanent Parent Visa.

It is never too soon to start preparing for your parents to move to Australia as some visas have long waiting periods before they are granted. You can only apply for one subclass of parent visa at a time.

 Temporary Sponsored Parent Visa (subclass 870)

The newest option for parents, released in mid 2019, allows parents to remain in Australia for 3 or 5 years and can be renewed once. This means that this visa can enable parents to be in Australia for up to 10 years. The first step in applying for this visa is to lodge a Sponsorship application. This must be approved before the parent visa itself can be approved.

 Sponsorship Approval

The requirements of being a sponsor for this particular parent visa in addition to residence requirements include having a taxable income of at least $83,790 per annum. This requirement can be spread across the family. This means that an Australian Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident or eligible New Zealand Citizen can sponsor a parent if their income, combined with their partner or child reaches the threshold. The visa is capped at 15,000.

Contributory Parent (Residence) Visa & Contributory Parent (Temporary) Visa

These two visas can be applied for onshore or offshore. The temporary option allows the parent to remain in Australia for two years and they must apply for the Contributory Parent (Residence) Visa within this time period.