Parent Visa Options in Australia (2026): What International Graduates Should Know

Once you’ve settled in Australia as a permanent resident or citizen, a common next question is whether your parents can eventually join you. The honest answer is: yes, but the parent visa system is one of the most misunderstood corners of Australian migration – not because the rules are hidden, but because the real numbers (cost, and especially wait time) rarely make it into casual conversation. This guide sets out what the Department of Home Affairs actually publishes, so you can plan with real figures rather than assumptions.

TL;DR

• You must be “settled” first. Your parents can only apply once you’re an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen usually resident in Australia – a student visa is not enough.
• There are two very different price points for permanent residence. The non-contributory Parent visa (103) costs from $8,665 with an estimated 33-year wait. The Contributory Parent visa (143) costs from $49,900 with an estimated 15-year wait. Same outcome, wildly different trade-off.
• A newer option skips the queue entirely – but doesn’t lead to permanent residence. The Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (870) lets a parent visit for 3 or 5 years, from $6,370, with no capping or queueing – but it cannot be converted into permanent residence and doesn’t allow work.
• Every permanent and provisional option requires the balance of family test and an Assurance of Support – a financial guarantee, backed by a bond, that someone lodges on the parent’s behalf.

You have to be settled first

Every parent visa in this guide requires the sponsoring child to be “settled” – an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen usually resident in Australia. A student visa, graduate visa (485) or bridging visa does not meet this requirement. In practice, this means most international graduates are years away from being able to start this process at all: you generally need to secure permanent residence yourself first (through one of the skilled, employer-sponsored or partner pathways) before your parents’ application can even be lodged. If you haven’t mapped out your own PR pathway yet, our PR pathways overview is the logical starting point, and our Australian citizenship guide covers what comes after that.

The seven parent visa subclasses at a glance

Home Affairs groups these into a Parent category (non-contributory) and a Contributory Parent category, plus the newer Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa, which sits outside both. “Aged” versions simply require the parent to already be old enough to receive the Australian Age Pension – the cost and structure otherwise mirror their non-aged counterpart exactly.

All figures are current Department of Home Affairs visa application charges for a single applicant, correct as at 1 July 2026 indexation. Costs are paid in two instalments and rise for each additional family member included.

The core trade-off: cheap and slow, or expensive and faster

Both the 103 and 143 pathways end in exactly the same outcome – a permanent visa for your parent – so the choice really comes down to how you’d rather allocate money versus time. Home Affairs publishes processing estimates based on current queue release dates, and as at 31 May 2026, they’re stark: applications in the non-contributory Parent and Aged Parent queue (103/804) had only been released for final processing up to a February-March 2014 lodgement date, giving a current estimate of about 33 years for a new application. Applications in the Contributory queue (143/173/864/884) had been released up to a November 2018 lodgement date, giving a current estimate of about 15 years.

The 173 (and its aged equivalent, 884) exists as a middle path: it lets a parent live in Australia temporarily for 2 years while their contributory application queues, rather than waiting offshore. It costs $33,375 upfront, with the remaining balance payable when the permanent 143 is finally granted – so the two-stage total works out close to paying the 143 fee directly, just split differently and with earlier physical access to Australia.

The balance of family test

Every subclass except the 870 requires the parent to pass the balance of family test – an objective, non-waivable rule that measures whether the parent’s family ties genuinely sit in Australia rather than elsewhere. A parent passes if at least half of their children (including step and adopted children) are “eligible children” – Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents, or eligible New Zealand citizens usually resident in Australia – or if there are more eligible children than children living in any single other country.

This catches out more families than you’d expect. A parent with four children, two in Australia and two split between two other countries, passes (2 beats any single country’s 1). But a parent with three children – one in Australia and two in the same overseas country – does not pass, because that one country has more of their children than Australia does. Home Affairs will not waive this test for any reason, including compassionate or compelling circumstances, so it’s worth mapping out honestly before you plan around any parent visa at all.

Assurance of support: the financial guarantee behind every permanent option

Permanent and provisional parent visas (103, 143, 173, 804, 864, 884) also require an Assurance of Support – a legal commitment, backed by a refundable bond lodged with the Commonwealth Bank, from an assurer who agrees to repay the government for any income support the parent might otherwise claim. You (the sponsoring child) can be the assurer, or it can be someone else who meets the eligibility guidelines.

Bond amounts and eligibility rules for assurers are set by Services Australia rather than Home Affairs, and are worth confirming directly with Services Australia’s Assurance of Support eligibility checker before you commit, since the assurer takes on a real, legally enforceable financial obligation.

The newer bridge option: Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa 870

The 870 sits apart from the rest of the family. It isn’t capped or queued, so there’s no multi-decade wait – but the trade-off is real: it’s a visit visa, not a migration pathway. It lets a parent stay for a single block of 3 or 5 years (renewable up to a cumulative 10 years across their lifetime), but it cannot be converted into any permanent or provisional parent visa, and once you’ve applied for or hold an 870, you’re locked out of applying for 103, 143, 173, 804, 864 or 884 as well.

• Cost: from $6,370 for 3 years, or $12,440 for 5 years, per parent, paid in two instalments.
• Cannot work in Australia at all while on this visa.
• Requires an approved Parent Sponsor – a separate sponsorship application the child lodges and has approved before the parent can even apply. One sponsorship can cover up to 2 parents, but a sponsor’s household can only have one active sponsorship running at a time.
• Must apply from outside Australia, with only narrow exceptions (for example, a medical emergency preventing departure).
• No Medicare access – private health insurance covering the full visa period is a condition of the visa, not optional. It’s a different product to the Overseas Student Health Cover you likely held as a student, but the same underlying idea: visitors and temporary entrants need their own cover rather than relying on the public system.

For many families, the realistic use case is pragmatic: use the 870 to have a parent physically present for a wedding, a grandchild’s early years, or simply an extended stay, while a genuinely permanent option queues in the background – not as a substitute for one.

What this actually means for international graduates

If you’re still on a student or graduate visa, none of this is immediately actionable – and that’s the most important thing to understand early rather than years from now. The realistic sequence is: finish your studies, secure a pathway to permanent residence, become settled, and only then can a parent visa application even be lodged. Given the 103/143 processing estimates run 15 to 33 years from the point of lodgement, a graduate who becomes a permanent resident in their late twenties and lodges a non-contributory application soon after could realistically be looking at their parents’ visa clearing sometime in their own late fifties or sixties – which is exactly why so many families weigh the higher-cost contributory route, or treat the 870 as a practical way to see each other in the meantime.

None of this is a reason to rule the idea out – families do successfully bring parents to Australia every year through all of these pathways. It’s simply a decision best made with real numbers in front of you, well before you need them, rather than discovered midway through the process. If you’re navigating family migration from the other direction – bringing a partner to Australia rather than a parent – our partner visa guide covers that separate pathway.

Frequently asked questions