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To be eligible to apply for the Australian Parent visa the application must be sponsored by children of the parents wishing to migrate to Australia, the children must be citizens or permanent residents of Australia, or eligible New Zealand citizen.

Applicants must also meet the ‘balance of family’ test: - "Balance of Family" Test (summary)

The number of children of the parent who are lawfully and permanently resident in Australia or are eligible New Zealand citizens usually resident in Australia is: (i) greater than, or equal to, the total number of children of the parent who are resident overseas; or (ii) greater than the greatest number of children of the parent who are resident in any single overseas country.

There are 2 main pathways to this application

1. Australian Contributory Parent Visa scheme

  • Contributory Parent Visa (143)

  • Contributory Aged Parent Visa (864)Australian Parent Visa 2. Australian Parent Visa

  • Aged Parent Visa (804)

  • Parent Visa (103)

Please note: Aged parents, for men the qualifying age is 65 years. for women this depends on their date of birth. the "Aged" parent visa is the only visa application that can be applied for while in Australia and to allow the applicants to remain in Australia while the application is processed from inside Australia the applicant must be of qualifying age holding a valid visa that does not have any conditions preventing another onshore application.

The condition preventing an onshore application is 8503 - No further Stay. these visas categories apply to onshore/Aged parent applications - 804 Aged Parent visa, 864 Contributory Aged Parent Visa and the 884 Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) Visa.

The qualifying supporting information for each category of visa application is the same, the difference is applicants for the Contributory Parent visa must make provision to contribute to their future health and welfare costs. The Contributory Parent visa does though have the facility for temporary visas (173 and 884) which are valid for 2 years during this period they are able to apply for the permanent Contributory Parent visa.

There is a cap on the number of Parent visas approved annually, there are more than 3 times the number of applications for the Contributory Parent Visa than Parent Visa applicants with Contributory Parent Visas having a higher processing priority.

Public Interest Criteria (PIC) must be met, that is Health and Character (Police Clearances). An Assurance of Support (Aos) bond must be provided, this is usually organised through

Centrelink as requested by the Department of Immigration during the processing of the parent visa application