Mike

Australian Parent Visa

If you are the parent of a child who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident you may be eligible for an Australian visa under Parent Immigration.

Australian parent visas which you can apply are:

• Contributory Parent
• Contributory Aged Parent
• Parent
• Aged Parent

Eligibility requirements which you must meet include:

• you must be sponsored by your child who will be obligated to provide accommodation and financial support to you during your first two years in Australia,
• your child has resided in Australia for a period of at least two years,
• you must have half or more of your children live permanently in Australia or have more children living in Australia than any other country to pass the balance of family test,
• you must meet health and character requirements,
• you must provide a valid Assurance of Support if required to do so, and
• you must apply under an 'Aged Parent' category if you are old enough to qualify for the Australian aged pension.

Contributory Parent Category and the Application Queue

Each year, 1,000 Australian visa places are allocated to normal parent categories while 3,500 Australian visa places are available in the contributory parent category.

Applicants for a contributory parent category visa are required to make higher contributions towards their future health costs but can expect substantially quicker processing times for their visas due to the higher number of places available.

Assurance of Support

You may be required to provide an Assurance of Support as part of your application. You will be contacted by Centrelink if this is the case.

An assurer, who may be your sponsor, has a legal commitment to provide you with financial support to ensure that you will not be reliant on government assistance and that any recoverable social security payments will be repaid to the Commonwealth of Australia.